It’s like Groundhog Day for Liverpool fans right now. Another rollercoaster afternoon where we are left relieved to take a point while ruing what could have been, considering how much possession the Reds had throughout the game.
Liverpool fought back twice to salvage a 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest at Anfield, but the defensive vulnerabilities and sluggish first-half tempo will leave Andoni Iraola with more questions than answers.
The opening 45 minutes felt like a rerun of last season’s worst habits. We had plenty of possession without much cutting edge, while Forest looked dangerous every time they broke forward.
Dan Ndoye caught our defence flat-footed in the 24th minute to slot the opening goal past Alisson after a sharp counter-attack.
Florian Wirtz thought he had levelled proceedings soon after, but VAR spotted a very tight offside to chalk off what would have been a well-worked equaliser.
It could have been worse, but for the acribatic skills of Alisson, making a save right on half-time to keep Igor Jesus from putting Forest 2-0 up.
The second half thankfully brought a lift in intensity from the Reds. Cody Gakpo finally found space down the right wing and picked out Alexander Isak, who calmly tucked in from close range on the hour mark to send the crowd roaring.
However, it wasn’t long before a lapse in concentration undone all the hard work. A quick throw-in from Forest caught the defence sleeping, Alisson brought down Neco Williams in the box and Morgan Gibbs-White coolly converted the resulting penalty in the 70th minute.
Iraola threw on fresh legs, and the moment of the match arrived in the 80th minute. Victor Munoz, who had looked sharp all game, took a touch to turn away from Murillo and unleashed a thunderous strike high into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
It was a magnificent finish that lifted the roof off Anfield. But despite a late push, we could not find a winner.
While Munoz and Isak showed the attacking firepower at our disposal, taking just two points from our opening two Premier League fixtures is a frustrating start to the new campaign, when we really should be winning from the outset.
We cannot keep conceding so many goals and expecting our forwards to save the points every match.
If Iraola wants to turn Anfield into an impenetrable fortress once again, the defensive needs sorting out immediately.
