Slot receives first unwanted lesson as Liverpool struggle

A historic occasion on Merseyside, just not the sort Arne Slot could celebrate.

- RICHARD JOLLY

On a day when he could have become the first Liverpool manager ever to begin their reign with four wins, each garnished with a clean sheet, Nottingham Forest instead celebrated the victory that had eluded them at Anfield since 1969.

Callum Hudson-Odoi delivered a result that even Brian Clough’s European Cup-winning teams could not muster. As Liverpool paid tribute to Ron Yeats, after one of their greatest captains died at 86, Forest tasted victory at Anfield for the first time since beating a side that included the fearsome defender.

For Slot, though, there was the kind of rarity he must hope does not become a regularity. Jurgen Klopp only lost one league game at Anfield in each of his final two seasons in charge, none in the year before that. Slot has now been beaten at the second attempt.

More worryingly, perhaps, Nuno Espirito Santo may have found a blueprint to play against the Dutchman’s side. If one explanation is simply that Liverpool were poor, sluggish when they needed to be sharp with distinctly below-par performances from Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, a reason why they were a shadow of the side who cruised to victory over Manchester United lay in Forest’s tactics.