It was practically in the last play of the game that Nottingham Forest suffered the defeat goal (0-1) against Liverpool, in the first match that Vítor Pereira managed for the tricky trees in the Premier League. After a positive first half from the team, the Portuguese coach lamented this outcome. "It's football. We played fantastically in the first half, creating problems. We deserved to have scored two or three goals; we had two or three great opportunities to score," he told Sky Sports, before highlighting the impact of the midweek game – a victory (3-0) over Fenerbahçe in the Europa League playoff. "We played three days ago, and now we played against a team [Liverpool] that didn't play midweek. Our ability to press them [in the second half] wasn't the same. And in the end, we conceded a goal. It's football. We have to accept it, even though it's hard to accept the frustration." The Portuguese also challenged the team for the remainder of the season: "If they play like they did in the first half, we can earn many points until the end." Forest is the first team above the relegation zone, with two points more than West Ham, managed by Nuno Espírito Santo. The Liverpool coach ended up agreeing with Vítor Pereira regarding the difficulties the English champions faced in the first half. "We lost all the balls. We couldn't keep the ball for even a second. If we made a long pass, we lost the duel. We lost many second balls. The only part of the game that went well was the defense inside the area. That was what we did well and kept ourselves in the game," commented Arne Slot, also on Sky Sports. "In the second half, I saw something slightly different. We took control of the game, maybe because they played on Thursday? For the first time this season, that was an advantage for us – the team we faced played midweek and we didn't." Arne Slot also pointed out the disallowed goal for Mac Allister in the 90+2’, five minutes before the same player scored the winning goal for Liverpool: "With the way things are going this season, I wouldn't be surprised if both goals were disallowed. But maybe luck has finally changed."
We Deserved Score Two remains central to this story.
We Deserved Score Two remains central to this story.
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