OTB Football
THE SUNDAY KICKBACK: "By hook or by crook, Liverpool will get there no matter what" | Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool | OFF THE BALL
22 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What are the initial reactions to Liverpool's performance against Nottingham Forest?
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Well, Keith, we had to wait a while. It was a slow burner. We got the drama at the end and massive three points for Liverpool because they weren't very good today, but they won't really care now.
I think Arnie Schlott might care, to be honest with you. I've been in games where, I wouldn't say Liverpool were battered from pillar to post, but they were second best for long, long periods against Nottingham Foreston. They kept playing out from the back. They kept just getting caught time after time after time. There was no real intelligent play.
and yeah they go and win the game but if it are any slot if I was Mohamed Salah or even Alexis McAllister who pops up with the winner Cody Gakbo Eketike I'd be expecting a near fall after that game I know they've won and they've got the three points but a lot of the performances out there were nowhere near the standard required and I know it's been an underwhelming season for Liverpool but that 90 minutes in isolation again is nowhere near good enough the first half they had an XG of 0.06 which just goes to show you they had nothing in the attacking toward
Everything that went up to the front lads in the first half just bounced off them. They were all like trampolines. It was wave after wave of attack. Salah's reaction from me, just smiling. He'd lose a battle and he'd smile. The referee would give a foul against him and he'd smile. I'd like to see him get a little bit annoyed and start reacting to things.
I'm not saying going over the top with things, but bite down on the gum shield and show you're up for it rather than laughing things off all the time. I don't think Arnie Schlott will be anywhere near happy. I'm sure he will be prepared to sweep it under the carpet and move on, but a couple of more performances like that.
The bench was so poor that I think if he'd have had somebody at half-time to replace those front lads, he'd have done it an awful lot earlier.
Well, one of the players that did come on and created the chance for the first goal that went to VAR, which ended up being disallowed, was N'Gomoa. He found himself out on the right side and put in a lovely cross. And Eketike, it's an amazing save from Ortega, but Eketike should score. So Liverpool fans were excited by Ngamoa in pre-season. He was electric.
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Chapter 2: How did Nottingham Forest challenge Liverpool during the match?
I get it. You've been a young player in the Premier League. You know what it's like. You have to be protected. But when you see the impact, he didn't even have to do much to make an impact because of what you said before with some of the other players around him not doing very much.
Yeah, look, I understand. If you're Ernie Slotny, you're thinking, I want to change it. Me two wingers, Gakbo and Salah, haven't really been at the races. I might put N'Gomoa on. Oli Oyena is really aggressive when he's in 1v1 battles. As it was Nico Williams, he was much better than Salah in that battle.
So you're probably thinking, I don't want to put the young lad on and take away and, you know, haunt his confidence a little bit. There will be times where he needs to be drip fed in. But that game for me was on an absolute knife edge and you're always a little bit standoffish in terms of putting younger kids on that don't have the Premier League experience.
But he comes on in the end and the amount of times that Salah got the ball high on the right wing and you're thinking, check back, cross it with your left, run down the wing, do whatever you like, do something. But he just took a touching pass to backwards. Nico Williams must have been thinking, brilliant, don't run at me, please don't run at me.
I was always told as a winger, you get the right back one-on-one, run at him. Because that's the one thing he doesn't want you to do is run. Salah, he came up against somebody who was just as quick as him today and really, really struggled. But I give N'Gama an awful lot of credit. He ran around, he put some balls into the box, he asked questions.
Yeah, when you come on in a really tight game like that, that's all you can do.
So a chance now with less than two minutes to go, Kempis versus Shilton. No chance, 2-2. Kempis' second goal and Shilton was left without a hope.
Mario Kempez, the star of Argentina's first World Cup triumph in 1978, scored a whopping 303 goals over the course of his career, which included spells at Valencia, Rosario Central, River Plate and Instituto. But what if his career had taken a different path and ended up at Spurs?
Well, just years after helping his nation win their first World Cup, he nearly joined his fellow countrymen in Ozier Diles and Ricky Villa at the North London Club. But why didn't the deal get over the line? Well, in episode four of Richie McCormack's Sliding Doors, Richie explains why the transfer didn't come to fruition for one of the best strikers in the world of the 70s and 80s.
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Chapter 3: What were the standout moments from Liverpool's win?
We got the news that Virts was a late withdrawal because he got injured in the warm-up. Curtis Jones went in there, couldn't get up to speed. He ends up dropping in at right back. But Forrest was the first to every ball, especially in that first half.
Yeah, and it's strange. If you'd have looked at the two teams, you'd have thought Liverpool must have played midweek. They look leggy, they're second into the tackles, they're losing the individual balls, they're not picking up the seconds. Everything, the basics of the game to get yourself a platform to move forward, Forrest were winning all of them.
And look, Liverpool wrestled back in the second half, they tried a little bit more, they had a bit more...
bite in the middle of the park but really passive really really passive and I was looking at all the stats successful tackles from Liverpool they're the worst in the league for it and when you look at Gravenberch and Sabotsluy McAllister brilliant footballers but they're going to have to stick their foot in that little bit more and so often now when you look at modern day football it's about pressing high and winning the ball high in the opposition half
Liverpool very rarely did that today Nottingham Forest did it an awful lot more than Liverpool did so they're going to have to somehow make their press a weapon Liverpool I know Salah's press is not probably what it needs to be Gakba on the other side can be a little bit loose at times but Arnie Schlott has an awful lot of work to do in terms of off the ball stuff not just on the ball
Yeah, you said before the game when you were talking to John ahead of the match that you still fancy Liverpool to get Champions League. They only need top five by the looks of it. They still have to play Chelsea at Anfield. They do have a trip to Old Trafford to come as well against Manchester United. But would you still be confident after watching that today?
I would still be confident. I'm not thinking Liverpool will get fourth because they're absolutely brilliant this season. I think Chelsea have that little bit of a soft underbelly to them. You look at them defend and set pieces against Burnley. Yesterday, nowhere near good enough. So I think they'll lose a handful of games.
The stuff that Lean Resignia has done, I know he took one of the Chelsea players, he put him on and took him off during the 90 minutes. Players don't like that sort of stuff. That can get round to dressing room. And even his interview after the Burnley game saying, you know, we assigned somebody to that player and he didn't do his job. That's basically throwing another player under the bus.
yeah I know I've heard that a lot of the Chelsea players like Liam Rossini but for me Manchester United are probably the biggest threat in terms of the Champions League race but I think just like today Liverpool by hook or by crook will get in there somehow OK let's talk about Forest Vito Pereira's first home game first Premier League game as Forest boss started well obviously on Thursday night with a 3-0 win I mentioned in commentary when he took over Wolves last season he picked up 7 points from their opening 3 games
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Chapter 4: How did Liverpool's tactics affect their game against Nottingham Forest?
Yeah that is a worry even when you look back to Sean Dyche's last game against Wolves I think it was 30 odd shots and so many chances a huge XG but they don't hit the back of the net and that's a big big thing for them 25 goals this season I mean that's going to put you right into the relegation battle off the top.
And when you look at Milenkovic and Murillo, the two centre-halves, I'm a big, big fan of. But they've been a bit leaky as well. And I just think they've become stretched. They've got European football. The squad has become stretched. There's so much happening in terms of the managers. I mean, Ange Postakoglou's style of play, Deshaun Dyche's style of play, Victor Pereira's style of play.
It's just a little bit all over the place. But what I do like from Victor Pereira, I know he favours a back three. I think he's had a look at the Forest dressing room and thought, I can't change too much here in this relegation run-in. We need to hit the ground running.
And look, I would probably, in this game in isolation, I would rather be in the Forest dressing room than the Liverpool dressing room. I know Liverpool have won the game, but Forest for me...
there's little green shoots there to think they'll have enough and even West Ham must be thinking tell you what Forrest have a little bit about them they didn't play poorly there so I still think Forrest will do enough but West Ham just keep churning out performance after performance so I'm not too sure I think it's going to be a brilliant race but I think Forrest will stay away from it
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