Hollywood Drama
[Nottingham Forest 0 – 1 Liverpool].
Kloppage Time is back.
For about a full minute there all I could do in my living room was jump and down screaming “Oh My God!” in disbelief over and over. Up until that moment, so deep in extra time that the clock almost rolled onto three digits, Liverpool had notched precisely zero shots on goal, against one of the most annoying teams to play away in the premier league. The City Grounds has been extremely inhospitable to Liverpool over the years; this most dramatic of victories is the first the Reds have notched there in the premier league era, and even in the full historic aggregate, Forest at their own stadium still has the better of Liverpool.
Then came the senior players who showed what maturity and a cool head in difficult moments can get you.
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The vision by Macca to put the ball right there, with that extra spin that ensured that, should only someone like, say, Darwin Nunez could flick it on, it would be impossible for any keeper to stop. The awareness and presence by Nunez to place himself right there, in that spot, knowing full well that Neco Williams had about no chance whatsoever to overrule him in that moment, and then just hoping the ball lands right. It did. And then Nunez, calm as you like, did exactly as he was asked by his Argentinian teammate on the pass, and calmly, gently, flicked the ball on. There really was nothing Sels could do.
And the Reds escaped a difficult tie with three precious, precious points.
Nuno’s face at that told it all. His team played well, and could have easily won. They had the better opportunities. Liverpool dominated possession, something they always do in this fixture, but Forest’s breaks are often decisive and lethal, as they threatened to be today. But like the Reds, their critical, last-pass decisions in the final third went awry. It was as if both competed for who could be the most wasteful.
Forest won that competition handily.
Kelleher was magnificent again, and nobody should be overly worried about when Alisson will be coming back. The Red’s defensive line did alright, but not especially so, even as Joe Gomez proved yet again how valuable he is to this squad. He played in three different positions and did well in all of them. Bobby Clark had a decent premier league debut, and Mac Allister felt lost at time, until he suddenly showed up in the dying moments, the mark of a clutch player.
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It was the front line that went missing, mostly on account of Cody Gakpo. Throughout the game, I was finding it hard to award a man-of-the-match, but now that it’s over, I’m going to abandon my usual approach and award it to Darwin Nunez. Not only for that delicious 99th-minute(!) goal but for the way he changed the game, in part simply by forcing Gakpo to the right where the latter seemed to wake up from a deep slumber and an otherwise shambolic performance. Harvey and Lucho played an average game, but you could see how badly they were missing presence, any presence, in the center. To Harvey’s credit, he has been playing a lot of football lately and has got to be falling off his feet.
This was a tough one, but we’ll take it. 11 more to go, with the biggest one coming up next weekend. If Liverpool can win that one at Anfield, we may start to believe.
In the meantime, the script for Klopp’s last season is, for now, still writing itself in rather spectacular fashion.
