NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 22: Jordan Henderson and Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool react during the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool FC at City Ground on October 22, 2022 in Nottingham, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Alfred Schreuder, manager of Ajax, understands why Liverpool lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest at the weekend. The Reds will try to recover.
Alfred Schreuder, the manager of Ajax, spoke to the media on Tuesday about their upcoming opponents, Liverpool. Naturally, the Reds’ lineup came up.
Liverpool lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest at the weekend, putting an end to what had been a reasonably bright period of form. They’d smashed Rangers 7-1, beaten Manchester City at Anfield, and then saw off West Ham United.
And then they lost to a team who, even with three points, remain bottom of the Premier League.
Schreuder, though, doesn’t believe Liverpool is suddenly in terrible form. He believes Jurgen Klopp’s side lacked one thing against Forest: luck.
“Yes, they lost versus Nottingham Forest, but they could also have won by four or five,” said Schreuder, per the Liverpool Echo.
“Obviously we watched their game with Nottingham Forest but they won against City the week before, who are not the least of clubs. This game against Nottingham, they could have won 6-1 but just didn’t have luck on their side.”
Liverpool lost 1-0 to Forest
Luck certainly played a factor. Or at least, poor decision-making did. Liverpool created enough chances to win that game fairly comfortably, with Virgil van Dijk inexplicably passing up two attempts to score.
Fabio Carvalho came close, too, while Mohamed Salah had a couple of moments where luck wasn’t on his side. Unfortunately, all of these misses cost Liverpool in more ways than one.
Forest wanted to sit back and counter-attack all game long. The only way to stop them from sitting so deep and compact was to score – a goal would have forced them to push higher and take more risks.
But because Liverpool blew every chance they had, Forest were able to stick to their game plan for the entire 90 minutes. Obviously, you can point to Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, and Diogo Jota’s absences as a reason for that. Put those three back in and the team probably find that necessary goal.
Here’s hoping things change for the next few games.
