Arne Slot’s Liverpool suffered a devastating sixth Premier League defeat in seven games against an outstanding Nottingham Forest at Anfield, deepening the crisis around their substantial £440m summer spending.
Liverpool’s troubles deepened as the struggling team stumbled to a sixth Premier League defeat of the season, suffering a “serious beating, a hammering” at the hands of a “quite wonderful” Nottingham Forest at Anfield.
This result, which saw goals from Murillo, Nicola Savona, and Morgan Gibbs-White, now places Arne Slot’s side in the bottom half of the table, raising questions about the club’s massive £440million summer transfer investment.
The performance of striker Alexander Isak, a £125million signing, drew inevitable scrutiny. Manager Arne Slot had previously suggested that the Swedish striker, who had five “inconsequential touches” in the first half-hour, was still not as fit as the staff would like.
As a “snapshot of Liverpool’s early season troubles,” the sight of “£165million worth of talent” in Isak and Milos Kerkez being substituted with 20 minutes remaining was telling.
The deadlock was broken by Murillo after Liverpool “failed to clear a corner.”
Although a goal from Igor Jesus was controversially ruled out for handball—a “bizarrely poor decision”—Savona swiftly added the second after the interval, demonstrating an “industry that Liverpool emphatically failed to match.”
Forest were lauded for being “excellent all over the pitch,” with Elliot Anderson named the game’s outstanding player.
Morgan Gibbs-White added the third, completing a “sensational win.” The report concludes that, “Realistically, that title defence is over.”