Liverpool manager Arne Slot was a happy man despite his side's 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night. The Reds dominated possession but were frustrated by a resilient Forest defense and a stellar performance from goalkeeper Matz Sels.

Forest wasted no time getting on the score sheets, as it took just eight minutes for Anthony Elanga to play a perfect pass from the midfield to a darting Chris Wood, who cleanly slotted the ball in the lower corner of the net. Liverpool's response and lone goal came in the 66th minute from a Diogo Jota header.

Liverpool had no issues getting into attacking positions, with 23 shot attempts on the day. With seven on goal, Sels was seemingly an impenetrable force that led to the Reds dropping points after a 4-0 routing of Accrington Stanley just three days prior in the FA Cup.

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Speaking to TNT Sports after the match, Slot praised his team’s attacking intent but mentioned the difficulty of breaking down Premier League defenses, even for one of the most potent attacking units in the world.

"You need to be a bit lucky with that [substitutions]," Slot explained. "We took Ibou [Konaté] out at that moment, who is normally a big threat on set pieces, but we all know Jota can score a goal and Tsimikas has a good delivery. We brought them in to score a goal, and they really did it after 20 seconds."

Jota's equalizer injected hope into Liverpool's attack, but Forest's defense held firm. After completely missing the net on the game's first five shots, Sels made a series of acrobatic saves to deny the Reds a second goal for the duration of the contest. Slot praised Sels and Forest's backline as a key factor in the result. "Their goalkeeper had to make a few incredible saves, but their defenders also made some good blocks with quite a few chances. They blocked almost every shot," he said.

Despite Liverpool’s relentless pressure in the second half, Forest’s defensive discipline under Nuno Espírito Santo and willingness to throw bodies in the way of goal-bound efforts from Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo with two minutes left in regulation ensured the visitors could only take a point from the City Ground.

Slot reaffirmed the Premier League as the most competitive league in the world, mentioning just how difficult it is to break down well-organized protection consistently. "It is so, so hard for every team to create here," Slot added. "At times it was one chance after another, although sometimes it took a long time for the restart."

While the result wasn’t what Liverpool had hoped for, Slot was positive with his team’s second-half performance. "I could not have asked for more. The second half was outstanding. Not many teams can create so many chances against an opponent so defensively strong. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a second."

Liverpool will get a chance to right the ship during their next league matchup against Brentford on Jan.18. The Bees are coming off a 2-2 draw against Manchester City and will look to carry their momentum against one of the top sides in the world.