Nottingham Forest have an iron chin

Keen readers of Defector will not be surprised that Liverpool are still the top team in the Premier League standings. I’ve written a lot about how impressive the Reds have been under Arne Slot this season, and I’m sure I’ll write a lot more. However, the team currently in second place also deserves some flowers as Nottingham Forest, the little money tree that could, have just finished taking four points from their two games against the same Liverpool. After handing the league leaders what remains their only league loss of the season back in September, and at Anfield to boot, Forest played hosts on Tuesday and came away with a 1-1 draw that served to further strengthen the Trees’ table-scaling. legitimacy.

The fireworks for the home side started early, thanks to goal-scoring Kiwi Chris Wood. The forward has been on a tear all season and scored 12 goals heading into Tuesday’s clash. Luckily no. 13 came in the eighth minute against Liverpool when Wood latched on to an Anthony Elanga through ball and sent a perfect shot across goal past Alisson and into the other side of the net to give Forest a 1-0 lead to match their margin of victory. from the first match.

Usually, when a nominal underdog scores early, the tendency is to turtle up to protect the lead. But this fearless Forest side kept the pressure on, perhaps rallied by a rabid home crowd. Although neither side scored in the remaining 37 minutes of the first half, the hosts were certainly the better side going into the break.

One thing that Liverpool under Slot have been good at, however, is the adjustment in the second half. And yet, after dominating possession for the first 45 – the tally was an almost laughable 71 to 29 per cent in favor of the Pool Boys; however, this is not unusual for Forest as they thrive off the ball, which their league-lowest 40 per cent average for the season helps to exhibit – Liverpool kept up the flurry of passes only to find routes to goal still blocked in the first 20 minutes of the second half.

Whatever Slot’s half-time talk consisted of didn’t work, so he made a radical change in the 65th minute, replacing Andy Robertson with Kostas Tsimikas (a similar change) and also Ibrahima Konaté for Diogo Jota, removing a centre-back and switched to a back three, however, with Ryan Gravenberch dropping back in defense without the ball, deploying an attacking quartet of Jota, Luis Díaz, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah.

The changes took literally no time to pay dividends as Tsimikas and Jota combined for the equalizer not even a minute after entering the field. Liverpool haven’t been great from corners this year, but thanks to some loose defending in the box from Forest, Tsimikas’ cross found Jota’s head just yards from goal, and if there’s one thing Jota does exceptionally well, it’s put his header on target:

After the equaliser, the real Liverpool came out to play and it was one-way traffic from there. Liverpool maintained their possession dominance and were finally able to turn those passes into chance after chance. In the remaining 25 minutes of regular time and the seven breaks, the visitors made 13 shots, and at least half of them were in dangerous positions from dangerous players.

But conceding chances doesn’t necessarily mean conceding goals and Nottingham Forest are truly elite at preventing these conversions. Forest are second in goals conceded in the Premier League – their 20 goals conceded this season are tied with Liverpool; Arsenal are first by 18 – and the hosts had to pull every defensive trick and bit of goalkeeping heroics to keep the score level. Thanks to the efforts of goalkeeper Matz Sels and the back line, all 13 of these Liverpool shots landed somewhere next to the net. Special shoutout to Ola Aina who was perfectly located on the post to clear a Salah volley just centimeters from the target.

Restricting Liverpool to just one goal is hard work as only Crystal Palace and Forest themselves have done so in the league this season, but Forest have a formula that works under journeyman manager Nuno Espírito Santo. With Wood leading the way and scoring goals for fun, Forest know it doesn’t take much to get a point or three from a particular game, and so Nuno’s traditionally conservative approach suits his players’ talents perfectly. That’s how Forest have run an unbeaten run dating back to December 4’s 1-0 loss to Manchester City that has kept the club so high up the table.

Nobody should consider the Trees serious title contenders, but their system is working and a top-4 finish looks more likely for the game. Time will tell if soaring at these heights, with so much pressure and intensity, will wear on a side that lacks as much depth as the other Champions League hopefuls, but so far Nottingham Forest have mastered the art of bending, breaking , and then snaps back into place.