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Nottingham Forest's victory on Merseyside last season was a blip in an typically dominant English top division performances at Anfield for the hosts. This recurrence in the current campaign, a decisively stronger victory under the Forest boss, was symptomatic of the problems afflicting the struggling title holders.

The visitors' superb performance

Forest were exemplary as they secured their largest triumph at Anfield. Strikes from the Brazilian, outstanding at each end of the playing surface, Nicolò Savona and the superb Gibbs-White led to a merited victory for a squad that also maintained a maid clean sheet in 20 Premier League games.

Liverpool's difficulties

The hosts, in comparison, were a mess as they suffered an eighth defeat in 11 games to drop into the second tier of the table. Weak at set-plays, repeatedly, ineffectual in offense, consistently, with Alexander Isak substituted after 68 quiet moments, and poor in defense, they struggled in all departments to fall to a back-to-back heavy defeat.

Initial dominance lacking reward

For the opening half-hour the Reds held the advantage, the infrequent attack from Morgan Gibbs-White aside, but the failure to capitalize on opportunities into the hard currency of finishes hurt them significantly. Mac Allister was given an early-on opening from Cody Gakpo's drive into the box only for Elliot Anderson to deliver a brilliant line save with his skull. He had a follow-up attempt blocked shortly after while impressive footwork from Salah set up another short-distance opportunity for Kerkez. An opposition player just managed to disturb the defender into firing over.

Dead-ball frailty hits again

The manager has often criticized his side's weakness to transitions and set-plays now. He was given fresh cause for concern when Nottingham Forest scored first through a mix of the each weakness.

Dyche was shocked after Jesus did not find Domínguez in space on the counter and gave the defender a chance to intercept. The following set-piece sparked ecstatic moments in the Forest dugout, nevertheless, when the midfielder's ball glanced off Virgil van Dijk to the goalscorer and the defender drilled an unbeatable shot from close range into the opposite side. There were reminders of the captain's disallowed strike against Manchester City in the Forest's initial score with the forward standing in an offside in front of Anfield's returning shot-stopper the goalie.

VAR calls and dispute

Unsurprisingly, the Liverpool captain was prompt to mention the comparisons to the match official, the ref. However, unlike the full-back at the Manchester, Dan Ndoye made no clear gesture in front of Alisson and the strike stood. Officials confirmed: "The referee's call of valid strike was checked and confirmed by the assistant – with it deemed that he was outside of the sightline of Alisson and avoided an move that impacted an opponent."

The Reds were saved by the referees and the system 120 seconds after when Igor Jesus was convinced he had doubled the visitors' lead.

Ibrahima Konaté, who experienced a dreadful afternoon, made an unconvincing attempt to clear an Sangaré's ball and deflected the sphere against the forward, who controlled before placing the bottom corner of Alisson's goal. Madley, in contact with his assistant, disallowed the attempt for a handling that various replays were unable to confirm or refute. The authority said: "The decision of no goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that Igor Jesus accidentally controlled the object before netting."

Another goal widens advantage

So much for the reprieve. Within seconds of the resumption Alexis Mac Allister was unable to intercept a pass towards Neco Williams inside the home box. The former Liverpool defender spun away from his defender and set up the visitors' second on a platter for teammate defender the scorer, who picked out Alisson's roof of the net with a calm side-foot finish.

Managerial changes fail

The manager went for broke, bringing off the defender with Ekitiké after the 55th minute and partnering the Les Bleus striker next to the Swede. That experiment lasted for only 13 minutes before Isak was replaced following one more ineffective performance. Chiesa and the youngster were also thrown into the Anfield's frontline but sloppiness in possession and solid Forest defending prevented the hosts at distance.

Late blow seals the victory

The visitors demonstrated the precision and cutting edge that Liverpool were lacking in the attacking phase to put the contest {beyond doubt|out of reach|conclusively