Liverpool maintained their position at the top of the Premier League with a dramatic late victory at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
A goal in the ninth minute of additional time from substitute Darwin Nunez earned another much-changed Reds side a 1-0 victory against their relegation-threatened hosts. The result means Jurgen Klopp’s men have now won eight of their last nine top-flight games and have still only lost four times in all competitions all season.
But there was plenty that went unnoticed or under the radar during the 90 minutes at the City Ground.
Nottingham Forest fans weren’t impressed with referee Paul Tierney in the build-up to Liverpool’s winner, but the Reds could rightly argue there should have been a free-kick seconds before the controversial drop-ball shenanigans for a high boot by home skipper Ryan Yates.
And the official had already managed to irk Klopp. During the closing quarter, Callum Hudson-Odoi fell over near Conor Bradley to win a free-kick that left the Reds boss outraged to such an extent he had to be dragged away from the touchline by his assistant Pep Lijnders.
That, though, wasn’t enough to prevent a bemused Klopp being given a lengthy lecture by Tierney. They’ll miss each other once the German leaves. Or maybe not.
Van Dijk reminder
The Reds weren’t at their best for large parts of the game on Saturday, hardly surprising given the energy-sapping and emotion-draining fortnight they’ve experienced.
But they cranked up the pressure late on with a succession of corners in which Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate became a growing aerial threat.
So the former was less than impressed when Joe Gomez, receiving a clearance from one set-piece, chose instead to play the ball back to goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher rather than look to help pump the ball back into the box where the two Liverpool centre-backs were still waiting.
Impatient Danns
This was another afternoon for Liverpool’s young players to shine, with 20-year-olds Conor Bradley and Harvey Elliott joined in the starting line-up by 19-year-old full Premier League debutant Bobby Clark.
And there was also another run-out for Jayden Danns, although the teenage striker did get a little ahead of himself before arriving as a late substitute.
Danns, standing on the touchline, had to be hurriedly cajoled by Klopp towards Liverpool assistant manager Peter Krawietz for some last-minute instructions from the cribsheet before being thrown into the fray.
Forest fans
It has been a very long time since Forest could be considered genuine rivals to Liverpool. But that hasn’t stopped the Tricky Trees faithful attempting to whip up ill feeling when Liverpool have been back in town in recent years.
Not that Klopp would have been too bothered when, not for the first time, the home support suggested the Reds manager’s trainers were less than acceptable. Stinging it was not.
But a section of the home support let themselves down once again by directing some risible and disappointingly inevitable chants that showed a distinct lack of societal awareness. It’s not that some people won’t learn, clearly it’s rather they don’t want to.
