Nottingham Forest defeated Liverpool on Saturday and the East Midlanders are living rent-free in the head of Arne Slot.
Just over 1000 miles away from Anfield, Liverpool were busy defeating Milan in the San Siro as they got their Champions League campaign off to a flyer.
The Reds parked their defeat to Forest and showcased what a great team they have by running out 3-1 winners over one of the best teams in Italy.
Afterwards, however, Slot couldn’t resist another dig at Forest, making some comments that just feel a little bit disrespectful.
Arne Slot makes another Nottingham Forest comment
After Saturday’s defeat, Slot bemoaned his team’s performance but both he and Alisson claimed that Liverpool should be losing to Forest.
There might be a degree of truth in that. However, this is the Premier League and on Saturday, Forest richly deserved their victory.
Nuno Espirito Santo rightly received his flowers from the media – and some Liverpool following pundits – for his tactical masterplan that out-thought Slot.
After last night’s game, however, he bizarrely chose to mention Forest during his post-match press conference.
He told BBC Sport: “Losing Saturday was a blow and to be 1-0 down early tonight, you are wondering how we react.
“But if you can play so good it is – I won’t say a disgrace – unbelievable you lose to Forest at home if you can play like this today.”
Slot will face tougher Premier League tests
So, Slot didn’t want to call it a disgrace but in using the word anyway, he’s overstepped the mark.
Forest worked meticulously on the training ground for two weeks. Espirito Santo produced a game plan that provided not only three points – but a blueprint on how to stifle Liverpool on home soil.
Welcome to the Premier League, Arne! This isn’t the Eredivisie where managing one of the big clubs gives you a divine right to finish in the top three as a bare minimum and more than half of the division are simply beaten before a ball is even kicked.
Liverpool will face teams with more quality than Forest and if Slot was unhappy with Saturday, then he might be in for a big shock.
Did Slot just think that Forest finished 17th last season so would simply be beaten by Liverpool as long as he threw eleven players out there wearing Liverpool strips?
In hindsight, Liverpool should beat Forest on home soil – in recent years, they’ve beaten most teams on home soil – but stopping short of calling it a disgrace, is frankly disrespectful beyond belief.
Forest have to take motivation and confidence from rattling Slot in this manner.
Espirito Santo and his players have now set the bar and hopefully, more big clubs and their managers can be left to make bitter – and disrespectful – comments after Forest have played them this season.
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