Liverpool coach Arne Slot praises Nottingham Forest’s “outstanding” star in the draw

Liverpool coach Arne Slot praises Nottingham Forest’s “outstanding” star in the draw

Arne Slot was in awe of Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels after his impressive performance to keep Liverpool to a draw last night.

A first-half goal from Chris Wood gave the home side a fantastic start and they led for 58 minutes before substitutes Kostas Tsimikas and Diogo Jota equalized with their first two touches of the second half from a corner.

Sels, who made six saves, delivered a breathtaking performance that deserved to be contested Liverpool who had a total of 23 shots, nine corners and 71% possession – and he was singled out by the Dutch coach after the game.

“Their goalie is having an outstanding season and it’s so hard to score against them,” Slot said. “We only conceded one counter-attack in 98 minutes of total dominance, but unfortunately they turned it into a goal.”

“We created a lot of chances in the second half but we have to give credit to Nottingham. They defend well and throw themselves at every cross.

“We wanted three points, but the players gave everything. We played outstanding football in the second half and created one chance after another.”

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The Forest goalkeeper joined the club from French Ligue 1 side Strasbourg on transfer deadline day in January 2024 for a fee of around £5 million.

And the performance was anything but a one-off; He leads this season’s Golden Glove tally after Forest went on a brilliant run that saw him keep nine clean sheets in 21 games. He leads Everton’s Jordan Pickford and Arsenal’s David Raya, who are in second place with seven each.

Despite the draw, Slot was delighted with his side’s efforts, limiting Forest to just three shots in the second half while they dominated with several clear-cut chances, including a goal-line-saving clearance from Ola Aina to deny Mohamed Salah.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” claimed Slot. “The second half was outstanding. There aren’t many teams that can create so many chances against such a defensively strong opponent.

“Sometimes one chance followed the next, but sometimes it took a long time until the restart. We only conceded one counterattack. It’s not the result we wanted, but the players did their best. We completely controlled and dominated the game for 97 minutes. We played outstanding football.”

In the Premier League table, Liverpool are six points ahead of second-placed Forest, who continued their brilliant run, and next face Brentford at the GTech Community Stadium on Saturday.

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