Liverpool suffered another defeat, their eighth loss in 11 games in all competitions, as troubles continued at Anfield. Arn Slott’s side suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, but Forest have now won away to the Reds for the second successive season.
It was another disastrous performance for the Merseysiders. The Merseysiders lacked creative ideas and looked weak at the back. The first goal came again from a corner kick. Murillo slipped into space, picked up the loose ball and fired a shot past the returning Alisson, giving Forest a 1-0 lead.
The East Midlands team thought they had a second goal, but Igor Jesus ruled the goal was canceled due to a handball argument. The second goal came seconds into the second half when right-back Nicolo Savona broke into the penalty box and fired home from about 10 yards.
Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White rounded off a great day for his team in the 78th minute. After some great play from Omari Hutchinson, his shot was saved by Allison. But the Brazilian could only manage to put it in Gibbs-White’s path, and Gibbs-White clinically sealed the win.
The Reds had another poor showing, with Alexander Isak once again struggling.
Alexander Isak’s stats against Forest
Isak’s start to his career at Liverpool was a real stop-start. He has missed a total of six games for various reasons and has not played in the Premier League since October 19.
His return to the top flight against Forest was disappointing.
The Sweden international, who is searching for his first Premier League goal for the Reds, was slotted home after just 68 minutes with his side still looking for two goals to get back into the game.
In fact, his numbers reflect how poorly Isaac performed. He had just 15 touches, lost the ball seven times, had just one shot, and had an expected goal of 0.13xG.
Isak Stats vs. Forest | |
|---|---|
status | number |
touch | 15 |
Number of ball lost | 7 |
pass completed | 6 |
won a duel | 0/7 |
shot | 1 |
expected number of goals | 0.13xG |
Sofa score statistics | |
One of the people criticizing Liverpool’s number nine was Goal journalist Stephen Darwin. He gave the Swede’s performance at Anfield a rating of 2/10, noting that he had “not reached his ceiling yet” when it came to scoring in the Premier League.
However, the blame is not necessarily solely on the striker for not getting the services he needs.
Two players struggled to get the ball to Isak.
One of the key things that Darwin highlighted in evaluating Isak’s performance was the fact that he “barely kicked” the ball. Of course, 15 touches makes for poor reads, but you still have to provide the ball to the centre-forward.
Two of the players who suffered from this were wingers Kodi Gakpo and Mohamed Salah. Overall, it wasn’t the worst performance. Although Salah created three chances and Gakpo once, their possession was sloppy and they gave up the ball a total of 53 times.
However, their service to the Reds’ centre-forwards was inadequate at best. According to StatZone, Liverpool’s number 10 passed to Isak just three times, while Dutch international Gakpo twice.
That’s certainly not the level of service he needs to start finding his best in front of goal. This is probably due to a profile conflict. Salah and Gakpo are both inside forwards who like to cut inside, into areas similar to those where Isak plays.
Or maybe the problem is simply a lack of time on the pitch with his new team-mates. Isak has missed most of the season and it may take some time for the trio to gel.
Either way, this is a problem that slots must solve soon. The Reds’ form is a major concern as they fall further down the Premier League table. The Dutchman will need to offload a big-money striker and first-choice winger to rectify this malaise.
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