If anything summed up Liverpool's season so far, it would be the way in which they rather laboured to a 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon.
The start of their campaign was full of last-gasp goals, and while their luck in that department has been out over the last few months, it returned with a bang this weekend.
Arne Slot's men were far from their best. When have they been at their best this term? Alas, the Dutchman's side came away with all three points courtesy of a late late winner from Alexis Mac Allister.
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The win significantly boosted their hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League. They are now five points clear of Brentford and are level on points with fifth-placed Manchester United and fourth-placed Chelsea on 45 points.
How Liverpool left it late to beat Forest
Truth be told, this was a bad time to play Nottingham Forest. Welcoming in their fourth manager of the season in Vitor Pereira, the Portuguese was overseeing his first Premier League game in charge of the Midlands outfit.
His team had defeated Fenerbahce excellently in Europe only a few days ago and came into this clash with newfound confidence.
Vitor-Pereira-Liverpool-Forest
That confidence certainly showed, particularly in the first half. In all honesty, Forest should have been out of sight. As the half-time whistle blew, the visitors had only had two shots. The hosts, by way of comparison, had managed 12.
Furthermore, they had managed just 171 passes and 41% of the ball to Forest's 245 passes and 59% possession.
Yet, the script was flipped in the second half. This time Liverpool were the dominant team, registering 66% of the ball and completing over 130 more passes than Pereira's side. That said, there was an element of good fortune to their win. They had a VAR call go against them and then in their favour.
Mac Allister twice found the net but only once did it count. The first was a strange goal, albeit ruled out, after Ola Aina's clearance struck the elbow of the Liverpool midfielder and found the net.
That said, while there was debate about the eventual winner from the Argentine, as it required another VAR intervention, it ultimately counted. Virgil van Dijk was standing just onside as his saved header was pounced on by Mac Allister, who couldn't miss from a matter of yards out.
A win may have been secured but on the whole this was a poor performance from Liverpool. There were a few players to blame for that.
Liverpool's biggest underperformers against Forest
Mac Allister will take the acclaim, as will Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate for the way in which they dealt with the Forest backline.
However, the attack, as ESPN's Beth Lindop put it, were "non-existent" at the City Ground. While Hugo Ekitike lasted the full 90 minutes, he missed a great chance from a matter of yards out to win the game for Liverpool when he saw a header denied by Stefan Ortega in the second period.
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Mo Salah and Cody Gakpo, however, were both withdrawn from proceedings early. It was not a surprise, either.
This has been a troubled campaign for both of the wingers and Salah, as has been the case for much of 2025/26, was far from his usual self, failing to complete a single dribble, losing possession 20 times and not registering a shot.
Gakpo was not much better. In fact, he was probably even worse. The Dutchman is in a real dry spell, having scored just once in his last 12 league outings. There were very few signs that he was going to improve on that unwanted record on Sunday afternoon.
Gakpo vs Forest
Minutes played
Touches
Accurate passes
Key passes
Accurate crosses
Shots
Shots on target
Successful dribbles
Ground duels won
Aerial duels won
Possession lost
Indeed, like Salah, Gakpo was particularly anonymous in the forward line, registering just one shot and failing to complete a dribble.
To make matters worse, he had fewer touches than goalkeeper Alisson (54), while his pass tally of only 11 is pitiful for a player of his quality. Combine that with the fact he didn't complete a key pass and it hardly comes as much of a surprise to see that Liverpool's attack was far from their best at the City Ground.
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Gakpo has been poor for a number of months now and while Salah often gets specialist treatment, the same cannot be said for the Netherlands winger.
It's now surely time for Rio Ngumoha to be given a start over Liverpool's underperforming left winger.
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