Liverpool\u2019s disastrous afternoon at Anfield prompted a blunt reaction from former England captain Wayne Rooney, who offered a scathing assessment of Arne Slot\u2019s side after their 3-0 home defeat to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n
Before the international break, the Reds had already suffered a 3-0 loss to Manchester City \u2014 a disappointing but understandable setback given City\u2019s title credentials.<\/p>\n
This latest defeat, however, came against a Forest team that has already changed managers this season and remains stuck in the lower half of the Premier League table. Even more alarming was that it happened at Anfield, traditionally Liverpool\u2019s fortress.<\/p>\n
Rooney praises Forest and slams Liverpool\u2019s shortcomings
\nSpeaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Rooney commended Forest for their discipline and structure but stressed that Liverpool were outclassed across the pitch.<\/p>\n
He highlighted how Dyche\u2019s side fought like a team battling for survival \u2014 a level of determination Liverpool failed to match.<\/p>\n
Rooney said:<\/p>\n
\u201cForest were outstanding defensively. They were really organised and putting their bodies on the line; we know that\u2019s what you get from a Sean Dyche team. Then they were effective on the break as well and caused Liverpool problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly on Liverpool had a few good chances and Anderson got a couple of excellent blocks in, but once Forest got the first goal, they looked like they didn\u2019t have any answers. Forest looked comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s crisis deepens under Slot
\nThe loss \u2014 Liverpool\u2019s sixth in seven league matches \u2014 has heaped enormous pressure on Slot, with fans increasingly questioning his tactical approach.<\/p>\n
Forest, meanwhile, delivered one of their best displays of the campaign, with Murillo, Savona and Morgan Gibbs-White finding the net in a result that stunned the Premier League.<\/p>\n
Now eight points behind leaders Arsenal, Slot faces a pivotal moment in his Liverpool reign.<\/p>\n
Rooney\u2019s message was clear: Liverpool aren\u2019t just losing matches \u2014 they\u2019re losing the identity that once made them one of the league\u2019s most formidable sides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool\u2019s disastrous afternoon at Anfield prompted a blunt reaction from former England captain Wayne Rooney, who offered a scathing assessment of Arne Slot\u2019s side after their 3-0 home defeat to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest. Before the international break, the Reds had already suffered a 3-0 loss to Manchester City \u2014 a disappointing but understandable setback given …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":55105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/COS-FeaturedHero-Image-Templates-66-1200x722.jpg-1.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55106,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55104\/revisions\/55106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}