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Nuno Espirito Santo outlines how Nottingham Forest stopped threat of Trent Alexander-Arnold

tom malley
·2-min read

Nuno Espirito Santo has outlined how Nottingham Forest stopped the threat of Trent Alexander-Arnold in Saturday's shock win at Anfield.

The East Midlands outfit secured a narrow 1-0 victory over their hosts thanks to a second-half strike from Callum Hudson-Odoi, limiting Arne Slot's side to just a handful of chances and stopping them in their tracks.

A major part of Liverpool's failure to avoid defeat was the inability to get Alexander-Arnold on the ball and into dangerous positions, with the right-back struggling to find his rhythm in a largely uninspiring game.

Liverpool had gone into the game as firm favorites against their lowly opposition, yet Forest boss Espirito Santo has revealed how his side managed to neutralize the England right-back, and the Reds in general, with their structure and organization.

Speaking after the game, the Portuguese said: "The only way to achieve anything here is if you are organized and do everything that you can. When you start the way we started with our wingers, Nico Dominguez and Elliot Anderson - all the effort of them tracking Liverpool's full-backs it is a lot of energy.

"The team needed fresh legs and they played well. We are working hard and it is about building and believing in this idea that you can develop."

Alexander-Arnold had been brought off in all of Liverpool's first three games of the season yet was left on for the duration of the 90 minutes in Saturday's encounter, hinting towards his importance to the team and Slot's dependency on him to perform when it matters most.

But the 25-year-old could do nothing to prevent his side from falling to its first defeat of the season, and it appears Forest's use of fresh legs played a major factor in the defender being unable to get forward as much as he usually would do.

Constantly tracking back and following Alexander-Arnold around the pitch would have limited the rest of the team finding him in space throughout the game, and Slot will hope it's a trend that doesn't catch on with other sides throughout the rest of the season.

However, the Dutchman did switch things up in the second-half by pushing the academy graduate into midfield for the final 30 minutes, although he still failed to make much of an impact in a more advanced midfield role.

It will be interesting to see whether the Dutchman looks for a solution to the issue and whether Alexander-Arnold will be forced to play in a different way because of it. However, the Reds will hope to show their quality in other areas of the pitch to take the pressure off the right-back from delivering in forward areas.