International break over? Another round of club football kicks off. Before Liverpool travel to Milan next week to reunite with the joyful sights of Champions League football, they have to keep the high momentum they started the season with by defending their 100% record against an in-form Nottingham Forest.
“Liverpool 2.0”...as Jurgen Klopp would refer this new look top side... well, we can clearly see why this side is different from the Liverpool of old; no Liverpool coach since the early 2000s in their first season had a better start to the season than Arne Slot has.
Liverpool this season have won all 3 of their opening games without conceding a goal. Tactically, everything's going in the right direction for Slot side; he's coaching the only team in the league that hasn't conceded, and from the look of things, it's most likely he can keep it that way for the next couple of weeks. So far his team, Pep's Man City, [and Nottingham Forest] have conceded the least xG. Slot has been a long admirer of Pep's philosophy and style; they both believe you don't need to defend intensively to prevent concession of goals.
“[Pep] Guardiola will still be talked about 50 years from now. What he does is so amazing. So beautiful for football as well. You see so many teams defending with all their might, but not him..."
How should Liverpool prepare for their 2nd home game of the season? Just like they do their last 98 home games which they failed to lose. Might we expect a different outcome, considering it's Slot's first experience to try and make his tactics click without some of his key players? It depends on how much pressure the opposition wants to put up at Anfield on Saturday.
After a long spell with Wolves and a brief tour of White Hart Lane, Nuno Espirito Santo returns to the Premier League as the new manager of Nottingham Forest. After going the whole of December 2023 winless, the Nottingham Forest board felt it was best they move on from Steve Cooper. Nuno Santos did all he could to keep Nottingham Forest out of relegation; he first lost to Bournemouth, but he picked up notable back-to-back wins against Newcastle (3-1) and Manchester United (2-1).
Nottingham Forest started this season and last season strongly; they lost only twice in their opening 5 games last season, this season though they remain unbeaten in their opening 3 this season, only 6 teams have kept this status, 4 of those teams finished in the top 6 last season.
Among the teams that finished in the bottom half last season, Nottingham Forest have been the third most threatening when in-possession (1.48 per game) this season [by Expected Threat(xT)], behind Iraola's Bournemouth (1.73) and Sean Dyche's Everton (1.84). They were also the best at maximising possession; ~30% of their passes were completed in the opposition's defensive third in relation to their possession battles with their opponents, and they're behind Spurs, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool with regards how many touches they average in the opposition box. They are equipped with two of the most devastating wingers in transition in Callum Hudson Odoi and Anthony Elanga. They also have a physically imposing midfield capable of closing down space centrally—retrieving the most possession in midfield third currently—and full-backs who win their defensive duels.
Most of the time, their defensive setup encourages the opposition to attack very directly to lure them to their traps set deep, and break from there.
Nuno Santos' side utilises a passive 1st line, but they're more focused on aggressively locking out space in the middle. When too many players stayed narrow outside the block, Nottingham Forest could collectively guide their ball progression towards the wide areas where they force turnovers and pounce on errors on the transition, allowing Morgan Gibbs White to receive and create in open space.
But this setup can be exploited too, when the full-backs stay wide. Arne Slot would have to compromise on his principles with regards his use of full-backs if he wants to win this game comfortably.
It didn't feel like a hard task for Klopp's Liverpool to tackle Nottingham Forest. On aggregate, it was a one-sided show (4-0 win), probably because his team overwhelmed them in transition. Slot's team so far hasn't found himself in a losing position in any period of the season, and has spent a relatively high period in a winning state than in other states, at a rate only comparable to Pep's City. It should be a walkover for the Dutch tactician..all things considered.
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