Liverpool escaped Forest, and the stats show why it felt so chaotic — and more

Liverpool’s 1-0 win away at Nottingham Forest will go down as three points that kept our Champions League chase alive, but the numbers show why it felt like such a strange afternoon and why so many of us were still trying to make sense of it at full-time.

Michael Reid, writing on Substack, described it perfectly as a match that was “hard work” in every direction, including the analysis itself: “This was a proper, classic game of two halves.”

The story starts with how badly we began, because Forest’s first-half shot count was historically ugly from our point of view.

“The 12 shots Nottingham Forest had were the most the Reds have faced in the opening 45 minutes of any league game since May 2015 against Stoke – yes, that game.”

That is the context for why the opening period felt like we could not put two passes together, even allowing for the disruption of Florian Wirtz pulling up in the warm-up and Curtis Jones being asked to slot into a reshuffled structure that clearly did not settle until later.

Liverpool’s two-half split is becoming the defining stat of our season

Stats via Michael Reid on Substack

Reid’s wider point about our season profile is the one that should make Arne Slot most uncomfortable, because it is not just a one-off at the City Ground.

If you only count first halves, Liverpool would be 12th in the Premier League this season.

If you only count second halves, Liverpool would be 4th.

We are also scoring our third-fewest first-half goals per game in a league season in our history.

That does not mean the second-half strength is a fluke, because we have repeatedly been better after the interval, but it does underline how often we are leaving ourselves too much to do, particularly in away games where the crowd can smell uncertainty early.

Forest match stats show why it never looked comfortable

Even in a match we won, SofaScore’s overview highlights how open it was and how many moments we had to ride.

Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool – key match stats

Arne Slot did not pretend it was a convincing display, either, and the Dutch coach effectively admitted we were hanging on at times before the game changed: “A draw would have been a fairer result than a win for us.”

Alexis Mac Allister was just as blunt about our standards: “The first half wasn’t good at all; positioning, pressing, intensity. It was not our standard.”

That is why the Forest win felt like a “how did we do that?” moment, because the performance data and the eye test matched for long stretches, yet we still found the late, messy, decisive moment that turned a rough afternoon into a vital result.

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India suffered a 76-run defeat to South Africa in their Super Eights clash, being bowled out for 111 while chasing 188. Marco Jansen's 4/22 and Keshav Maharaj's 3/24 helped South Africa restrict India, with Shivam Dube's 42 being the only notable resistance.

Former assistant coach Abhishek Nayar highlighted India's batting struggles, suggesting Abhishek Sharma has 'passed the baton of zeroes' to Ishan Kishan. Nayar expressed concerns about India's ability to handle quality off-spin, particularly against West Indies' Roston Chase, as they look to revive their semi-final hopes.

The longtime NBA analyst has doubts about the Kansas star.

Police Scotland is investigating after Rangers players Emmanuel Fernandez and Djeidi Gassama shared screenshots of racist abuse aimed at them on their social media accounts after Sunday's match in Livingston.

London-born centre-half Emmanuel Fernandez, who qualifies to play for Nigeria, and France Under-20 capped winger Gassama, who was born in Mauritania, both started for Rangers as their title hopes suffered a blow by being held to a 2-2 draw by the Scottish Premiership's bottom side.

The abuse on Instagram that followed coincides with police in England confirming they are investigating after four Premier League players were targeted by online racial abuse at the weekend.

A Police Scotland spokesperson told BBC Scotland: "We are aware of offensive posts online and enquiries are at an early stage."

Rangers have been approached for comment.

• Police investigate 'abhorrent' racist abuse of players
• 'Appalling weekend' - Arokodare & Mundle latest players to be racially abused

Last month, Livingston wrote to the Scottish FA over an alleged racial comment made to striker Jeremy Bokila during their Premiership defeat by Aberdeen.

And, after Saturday's 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri and Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana both received racist abuse on Instagram.

On Sunday, Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Tolu Arokodare and Sunderland winger Romaine Mundle were also sent racist abuse on social media.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's official spokesman described the abuse as "abhorrent", adding: "The Prime Minister has supported footballers before who have had the courage to come forward and call out discrimination and racism and this is no different."

The spokesman pointed out that English top-flight clubs have said they want to work with social media sites, including Meta, the Premier League and the police to identify those responsible.

"And Meta has said that it will continue to work to protect people from abuse," he said. "Ministers will be holding them to account to ensure it happens."

Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out said it had been an "appalling weekend" but "the sad fact is, we know it happens regularly".

In November, a BBC investigation found more than 2,000 extremely abusive social media posts - including death and rape threats - were sent about managers and players in the Premier League and Women's Super League in a single weekend.

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