"Forest opened the scoring by taking advantage of Liverpool's poor form from set-pieces this season. Excluding penalties, Slot's side have conceded nine league goals from set-pieces this season - as many as they did in the whole of last season. For the first goal, Liverpool had six players in the six-yard box including goalkeeper Alisson, while the visitors smartly only placed two in there."
"The real battle happened in the middle of the box where Forest and Liverpool set up in a 4v4 situation with Liverpool's four consisting of Cody Gakpo, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah. Early in the routine, Salah gestured to Mac Allister asking the Argentine to pick up one of Forest's most dangerous players, Murillo. Mac Allister was unable to do this as he was preoccupied with the player he was designated to mark."
"Szoboszlai was tasked with marking Morgan Gibbs-White, but decided against tracking him to the near post - instead attempting to pick up the free Murillo at the last minute. As the cross was played in, Gibbs-White narrowly missed heading the ball at the near-post unmarked. Him being free was a by-product of van Dijk being occupied by another Forest player and Szoboszlai picking up Salah's man instead of Gibbs-White."
Liverpool conceded their opener by failing to defend a set-piece, reflecting a season-long weakness that has produced nine non-penalty league goals conceded from set-pieces. Liverpool positioned six players in the six-yard box including Alisson while Nottingham Forest only placed two, creating mismatches. Alexis Mac Allister became tied to his mark and could not pick up Murillo, leaving Murillo unmarked. Dominik Szoboszlai chose not to follow Morgan Gibbs-White to the near post and instead scrambled for Murillo, allowing Gibbs-White to be free at the near post as Virgil van Dijk was occupied by another runner. Collective movement pulled Liverpool closer to their goal, exposing defensive disorganisation and poor individual decisions that Forest exploited to score.
Read at www.bbc.com
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