Jurgen Klopp’s Reds have lived by the club motto: ‘This means more.’
That was certainly the case last week against Manchester City. And again in a tricky midweek follow-up against West Ham. But that epithet was turned on its head at the City Ground.
Steve Cooper’s collection of Premier League wannabes, hopefuls and cast-offs managed to secure three points because, for all of Klopp’s correct post-match dissection, they proved the oldest cliche in the top-flight of English football. There are no easy games.
Liverpool’s boss was bang on the money afterwards. Had his team - particularly Virgil Van Dijk - taken their chances from dead ball situations, the outcome would have been different. But the game is full of those moments. Liverpool blinked. Forest didn’t.
Klopp pointed out that he made five changes. And, yes, it did disrupt the visitor's rhythm. How could it not, losing the likes of Darwin Nunez and Thiago?
Toss into the mix the extra day’s rest that Cooper’s side enjoyed from this week’s games and perhaps it was never going to be a comfortable walk in the Autumnal sunshine by the banks of the Trent. Klopp said: “It was a game we needed to win by doing the right stuff - again, again and again.
“We didn’t. And that’s why we lost the game. To be honest, we should have put the game to bed from set pieces. But we had to make a lot of changes. We have had seven days, playing three games of high-intensity.
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"The first against Manchester City which was super-intense. Then, you have to go the full distance in midweek and again here. So, I’m not sure who I should praise. Steve (Cooper) is a fantastic manager and they are a great team.
“Credit to Nottingham but we didn’t use our moments well. If we had done, you’d have been asking different questions.”
That dissection of the 90 minutes was fair to those viewing it from Liverpool’s perspective. The reaction from the home camp was very different.
Boss Steve Cooper nodded in the direction of past encounters between the two clubs - particularly those in the early 80s when both jostled for domestic and European domination.
He said: “There’s a couple of factors in the result today. One, is that we were desperate for it. And the second is that there’s a lot of nostalgia and history in this fixture. It was an important day for the football club.
“This will please generations of this club’s supporters. And we needed good moments in both boxes to beat a team like Liverpool. In fact, we could have scored one or two more.”
Forest keeper Dean Henderson made important interventions both at the start and toward the end. He blocked Fabio Carvalho’s effort with his legs early on but saved his best effort for injury time when a magnificent left-handed save prevented Virgil Van Dijk from snatching a point.
Forest’s goal came ten minutes into the second half when Taiwo Awoniyi - who Klopp sent out on loan seven times from Frankfurt to Berlin via Holland and Belgium - returned to haunt both his former manager and Joe Gomez.
The centre-half lost possession in midfield and fouled the striker, earning himself a caution. That gave Forest the chance to bang a ball into the box. Steve Cook's fierce drive from the right was stabbed goalwards by Forest’s striker.
His first effort hit the foot of the post but the ball rebounded and Awoniyi finished by firing high into the roof of the net. Forest lifted themselves off the foot of the table with their second victory of the season.
Cooper added: “I’ve discovered quickly that to get anything out of a Premier League game, you need to give everything. When you do, the feeling’s unbelievable. Some of the older boys in the dressing-room have said they want to bottle it up - because it’s unique.”
