Liverpool must avoid one key mistake to secure Nottingham Forest revenge | OneFootball

Arne Slot’s disappointment was exacerbated by the identity of Liverpool’s conquerors. “Normally this team is not ending up in the top 10,” he said after what, four months on, remains his only defeat at Anfield. It is safe to say Slot did not see Nottingham Forest’s title challenge coming. Then again, neither did anyone else. A reunion comes with Forest not merely in the top 10, but the top three. “Looking back at it and seeing where they are in the league it has not been such a shock result as I thought it was back then,” smiled Slot.

So Forest against Liverpool has become a throwback fixture. Slot cited the five consecutive seasons in the 1970s and 1980s when first Bob Paisley’s Liverpool then Brian Clough’s Forest and then Liverpool again won the old European Cup. Forest’s 1979 triumph came after knocking out the holders, Liverpool. Now there is a genuine prospect they could be rubbing shoulders in the Champions League next season.

Which strikes some as a footballing fairytale. Slot might demur. Forest’s rise has been fast but not cheap. “It’s still an unbelievable accomplishment for them to be top three at the moment, but if you look at the amount of money they have spent it is not a complete surprise that they have a better season than two or three years ago,” he said.

He drew a distinction with his AZ Alkmaar side who were level on points with Ajax when Covid curtailed the 2019-20 Eredivisie season. Forest came from further down the pyramid but were propelled upwards by rather greater resources.

“That's the difference between AZ as we didn't spend money back then,” he added. “AZ has always been a club that has ended up third, fourth, fifth in the league. I don't think Forest in the last 10 seasons ended third, fourth or fifth. What I maybe underestimated was their spending. They have spent more money than us in the last three years.”

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Callum Hudson-Odoi of Nottingham Forest celebrates scoring against Liverpool (Getty)

Slot’s maths was correct. Almost everyone outspent Liverpool last summer, when their only recruits were Giorgi Mamardashvili and Federico Chiesa who, for different reasons, have scarcely contributed to their title tilt. By paying around £350m for players since their promotion to the Premier League, Forest have outspent Liverpool, albeit from a low base of a Championship club who were staffed with loan players. In 2022, meanwhile, Liverpool had a squad who had just competed for the quadruple. But if Forest seemed initially guilty of scattergun spending, bringing in 29 players over two windows and having so many that there was not enough room in the squad to register them all, it became more refined.

Liverpool were condemned to defeat at Anfield by Callum Hudson-Odoi, a £3m bargain. It may have been the first genuine indication that Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo were among the division’s most formidable centre-back partnerships. A defence featuring Neco Williams, the full-back bought from Liverpool, now has five consecutive clean sheets.

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Fans of Nottingham Forest celebrate at Anfield (Getty)

Slot affords Nuno Espirito Santo plenty of credit for making sense of the madness, for turning the assortment of signings into a team. “He is doing an incredible job,” he said. The Dutchman made the point, too, that Premier League revenues create the opportunity for managers to affect such alchemy. It may have been a slight on Erik ten Hag when Slot, who believes Liverpool’s draw with Manchester United was cast in a different light when Ruben Amorim’s 10 men eliminated Arsenal from the FA Cup, added: “You can see at United where people said they spent a lot of money and they don't have good players, now all of a sudden they have good players. You know if you spend so much money you will have good players, and then you need a manager who brings that out of them. That is what Nuno is doing great at the moment.”

If anyone has outwitted Slot this season, perhaps it was Nuno. The Portuguese omitted Anthony Elanga and Hudson-Odoi at Anfield, but brought both on to pilfer victory. It creates a doubt in Slot’s mind if Nuno will try the same ploy, though he expects the wingers to start.

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Slot reacts during Liverpool’s defeat to Forest at Anfield last September (Getty)

Slot has rewatched that September defeat in preparation. “I definitely don't wipe it from my memory,” he said. “What I mostly disliked was the fact in the last 20-25 minutes I didn't see something happening. The good thing is that was also the only game in which that happened because we know in recent games every time we went behind we did put our foot on the gas and that is what we didn’t do it.” It was, though, a game when Slot was getting to know his new charges. “It was in a period of time when I still had to learn what was the best for this team,” he said.

He has learnt about both teams since then. But if one potential title rival was unexpected, Slot believes Liverpool’s usual foes are still in contention. Manchester City have lost six of their last 11 league games but he added: “You can never rule City out and you can never rule Pep Guardiola out.” For now, anyway, you can’t rule Forest and Nuno out, either.