Richard Jolly on Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp
Here’s Ben Fisher’s report from the City Ground.
Liverpool are in their 25th FA Cup semi-final, though they have not been in the final since 2012, and they last won the competition in 2006. Wembley hasn’t really been Anfield South in recent years, but the League Cup and now that date next month with City, those days might be coming back soon.
Diogo Jota speaks to ITV after the game.
It was a tough game they are a great team, they played with a lot of intensity. [Offside goal] Yeah, I thought it was tight, you never know. They had one big, big, chance and they gave us a proper challenge. It was a really tough game but we are in the semi-final;. We fought, we fought really hard.
This was the moment that swung it, though there were others, too. Forest fans will rue the missed chances and perhaps the penalty that never was.
The 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 of touches from @DiogoJota18.@LFC #EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/medNXfWdSI
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) March 20, 2022
Full-time: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool
A match befitting of the occasion of 23 years apart, some real effort by Forest, Liverpool given a fright as they go through to face Manchester City in the semi-final. The FA Cup has been very good this season, and now the biggest guns will be in the last four. And Crystal Palace. Forest gave everything, but Liverpool’s quality told, and Jurgen Klopp is congratulating Forest players on their efforts.
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90+5 min: Just a few seconds away from Wembley for Liverpool now...
90+3 min: That penalty, that miss from Zinckernagel, the Yates header just now, Forest have had their chances. And there will be post-match rage about the non-penalty. Tinfoil hats aplenty....but what’s this? Cafu has one, the ball dropping down, his control perfect, his shot just wide. Not bad for a 51-year-old....
90+1 min: Liverpool trying to kill this one off by wasting time, there’s been a few scares for them on the way to this narrow lead.
90 min: On ITV, the rarity of a losing player getting man of the match as Lee Dixon chooses Forest’s Joe Worrall, who has given everything for the cause. Five minutes added on.
89 min: Forest go again, and Johnson skips to the wing, with four waiting in the middle. Yates gets on the end of it but the header is straight at Alisson.
87 min: Van Dijk is down after a clash with Cafu. He’ll be OK but Liverpool will be taking their time.
85 min: There’s a penalty shout...Yates skates past Alisson and goes down. There’s calls for VAR, and it looks as if he deliberately leaves his boot to be hit. It’s waved on by the referee. Could Yates have kept going? We’ll never know.
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84 min: Surridge, on as sub, is pulled back by Kounate. Liverpool still not finding this at all easy.
83 min: But: a free-kick for Forest, James Garner will take, and the ball is smuggled away by Jota, the match-winner as it stands. Forest are not going to take this lying down.
80 min: Poor Zinckernagel had to watch that from the subs bench as he was replaced by Mighten. Liverpool found a way, with Tsimikas, unable to find a pass all day, releasing the previously quiet Jota. That’s so tough on Forest.
Goal! Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool (Jota, 78)
Tsimikas cuts in, and bends his pass, Jota bends his run and knocks in. There’s a delay for VAR and a hint of offside but that was cruel on Forest. So close to that Zinckernagel miss.
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76 min: Oh no, that was the one. Lovely ball finds Johnson in space and it’s there to be hit for Zinckernagel. And he does hit it, but wide. Oh no, what a miss.
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75 min: Van Dijk smashes out of play as Davis threatens him. The gliding Dutchman has not found it easy against the former Villa man. Not at all.
73 min: Oof, the glimmer of a chance as Johnson robs Tsimikas and the ball is there to be crossed. It ends up in Alisson’s arms but Liverpool have lacked a bit of fluency after all those changes, memories of Sven Goran Eriksson swapping out half a team and his teams looking disjointed.
71 min: The sight of Thiago strolling and the no-look pass is amidst us, and mesmeric. Except, his next touch is to almost play in Keinan Davis. That’s a blow to his passing stats.
70 min: Forest are trying to win this in the 90, too. It’s been a fine game despite a lack of goalmouth action. At one end, Luis Diaz makes a pretty theatrical dive and escapes what might have been a yellow.
68 min: Firmino’s pass almost sets up Luis Diaz for a goal with his first touch but the ball runs beyond him. At the other end, Van Dijk has to wake up and stop Brennan Johnson getting a shot in.
66 min: Liverpool’s team looks distinctly stronger with that quartet added. Looks like Jurgen Klopp wants to avoid extra time, it seems.
64 min: Here come four Liverpool subs (count ‘em).
Oxlade-Chamberlain goes off, looking annoyed, so does Elliott, on come Diaz and Minamo. Thiago replaces Fabinho. Keita off for Henderson.
Forest make one change: off goes Lolley, and on comes Cafu, the Brazilian legend....
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62 min: Van Dijk and Davis is turning into something of a battle. The Forest forward is a handful.
60 min: Johnson is climbed all over by Gomez. It looked clumsy and it was also deliberate, so Gomez is rightfully booked. A free-kick to be bent in by Garner from the left-hand side? No, it comes to Zinckernagel who can’t beat Alisson’s wingspan.
58 min: Johnathan Kaszynski: “I really feel for Oxlade-Chamberlain. His career was finally coming together and he just hasn’t recovered from that injury. Unfortunately this is not his level anymore.”
It’s true he’s never recovered the form he showed during that 2018 run in the Champions League. And that feels a long time ago now.
57 min: Joe Gomez wins a corner for Liverpool, and Tsimikas takes - of course - Van Dijk hooks it back in, and Horvath clears as Kounate climbs to reach the ball.
55 min: Garner steps up to clear some danger. This tie is on something of an edge. Liverpool have struggled without being anything like overpowered. Forest are seeking that one chance to find a way past.
53 min: A chance soon comes, Jota getting a whiff of one and Horvath saves well, just as he does Oxlade-Chamberlain’s ball deflects into his path. Liverpool stepping it up now? It seems so.
52 min: Spence forces a corner, and the Forest fans really get behind their men. They get a throw when Tsimikas heads away. Liverpool yet to get into the other half?
50 min: Liverpool try to gain a foothold, they are in danger of being caught like Arsenal at the City Ground where Forest picked up momentum and won the tie.
48 min: An early Forest break sees Johnson try to play in Yates, it results in a free-kick where Davis is caught offside by a well-organised offside trap. Then there’s another offside just as Alisson looks to have fumbled the ball with Keinan Davis lurking. Forest seem to be pushing up and pressing hard.
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46 min: More Mull of Kintyre and back away we go at the City Ground, can it be as breathless as that first half where no time was added on as the ball was in play for almost the entire 45 minutes.
Here’s the weekend’s FA quarter-final reports. The semi-final draw produced the winner of this tie versus Manchester City and then Chelsea v Crystal Palace.
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Half-time: Nottingham Forest 0-0 Liverpool
It’s an even contest in that Forest are holding their own and Liverpool are not getting to do anything like they’d want to. The chances have been scrappy, with Forest snatching at a couple on the counter and Liverpool’s best opportunities coming from their opponents’ lapses of concentration.
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45 min: Tsimikas, clearly assigned the role of dead-ball specialist, makes another mess of one, and it’s cleared easily. Joe Gomez then takes a great deal of time over a throw-in. Liverpool are not at the races at all. And that’s half time.
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42 min: Jurgen Klopp looks somewhat unamused and bemused. Forest have given as good as they have got and defended like demons...but Gomez gets a chance as Colback, again, slips, but whacks the ball over the bar. Gomez has never scored a goal in professional football.
40 min: A familiar face in the crowd: Forest legend/Manchester United horror story, Garry Birtles, the lad from Long Eaton who was pioneering the bearded look way before the late.2000s hipster, more Bob Grant than Shoreditch thatch.
39 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain’s turn to put in a weak, very clearable pass, and then foul Brennan Johnson. Not his day just yet, “The Ox”, one of the least Ox-like players you could imagine.
37 min: Liverpool pressure, plenty of it, but not a great deal of quality in their final ball.
35 min: Tsimikas, to nobody’s surprise, falls over when he’s in a good position on the edge of the Forest box.
33 min: Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain try to release the ever involved but not quite at it Tsimikas and the ball rolls out. Lolley speeds down the other wing and his ball to Johnson misses the target. Forest’s best hopes rely on those two players down the flanks.
31 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain digs out a pass towards Firmino but Horvath is again quick and safe as he quells the danger.
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29 min: Oooh, Colback almost plays Firmino in with a backpass but Horvath stands tall and bails out the midfielder, and Worrall completes the job. Soon after that, Tsimikas gets the ball and shoots from distance. His radar is well off at the moment.
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27 min: Forest break to loud noise, the move started by Lolley before Johnson cuts back and they decide to hold the ball. “Where’s your famous atmosphere” was sung by the Liverpool fans. It’s here, actually. Deafening.
25 min: All Liverpool now, and Forest doing an awful lot of chasing. Spence gets a rare chance to speed down the other end but a calm, collected Van Dijk comes across and scoops the ball from danger.
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23 min: Liverpool corner, Tsimikas takes again, and again the ball is cleared. The Greece defender tries another cross and that’s cleared. Virgil van Dijk has to jog back home to central defence having been nowhere near the ball.
22 min: A wildcat attack by Forest with Zinckernagel again providing the final pass. Lolley fires wide and wastefully, plenty of power, not enough direction.
21 min: Forest’s defence has been sat increasingly deep, and held its shape with plenty of cover ahead of them. Liverpool dominating possession now, Forest’s attacks will come on the counter.
19 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain corner, with Fabinho surging into the space but unable to connect. One from the training ground, and one that’s gone to waste. On the touchline, Jurg looks a bit annoyed by that.
17 min: Gomez again cuts in, he’s being given licence to do so, and shoots from distance. Horvath, the American goalie, claims it at the second time of asking but no real danger.
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15 min: Tsimikas tries one from distance and it dips and swerves just over. Forest speed down the other end. Zinckernagel sets up Yates, who has time to shoot but not enough to prevent a defender coming across to deflect behind. It’s a crisp, competitive cup tie. Joe Garner tries to give it a goal but whacks over the bar.
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13 min: Gomez does a decent impression of “Trent” in speeding up on the overlap, causing panic as he does but then hitting it behind his teammates. Tsimikas then takes his second corner of the game and it’s even worse than his first. “Trent” and “Robbo” both missed so far by Liverpool.
11 min: Liverpool attempt to play the ball around, try and take the sting from Forest. It eventually comes to Jota, and Worrall steps across for a superb piece of anticipation.
9 min: Hurried clearance by Van Dijk and it needed to be. More Forest pressure as Johnson speeds to the line, Lolley has the goal gaping but chooses to cross. That was a chance to hit the target, one passed up but Liverpool are struggling a little.
7 min: Jurgen Klopp is already up and issuing instructions, Liverpool yet to find their stride. Oxlade-Chamberlain plays the ball for Firmino to chase but it’s overhit. It was a bit hurried, as if he felt under pressure.
5 min: Forest pushing up and in numbers. Steve Cooper hasn’t set his men to defend deep. A cup tie is there to be won, after all.
4 min: A long time since these supporters were singing at each other, and the Liverpool fans are playing their part. An early dart from Johnson, the Forest youngster, and he gets to the right-hand side of the box, his cross going into Alisson’s hands. Him versus Joe Gomez is a contest to watch.
2 min: Liverpool win an early corner, taken by Tsimikas and cleared as Jota lurks. The ball comes back out, and Keita chips the ball through Elliott seems set to score but the offside flag goes up.
1 min: And away we go in the FA Cup quarter-final after the players take the knee. Hell of an atmosphere at the City Ground, very loud indeed.
The pre-match sound of U2’s Beautiful Day ringing out as the teams come out seems apt for a tie being screened on ITV in the UK, if the wrong competition for The Premiership. It’s followed by Welcome To The Jungle. Stadium DJs never play the latest hip sounds, do they? (Not that I’d know what they are, but the playlist always stops around 2004, with only the Killers, Beyonce, Pharrell Williams, Amy Winehouse’s Valerie and Mark Ronson escaping through. Mull of Kintyre rings out at the City Ground now, as is traditional, even if Silly Love Songs is a superior track.
Ian Copestake on that 5-0 game from 1988. “Not only am I one of those fans of a certain age, but I still possess the VHS tape of the drubbing that came out a few months later!”
Even as someone with no affinity for either club I must confess I watched that game back many times over and had the tape for a few years myself.
Matt Dony: “Forest have got Cafu on the bench? That’s a lot of experience to bring on...”
Can still do a job, the lad. This Cafu is a 27-year-old midfielder from Guiamares.
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So, there will be no Liverpool v Manchester City FA Cup final. Instead, and if Liverpool get past Forest, they can thwart each other’s treble/quadruple bids in the semis.
A prediction, should it happen: at least one of the managers will select a weird team as if to duck the contest. The likes of Ferguson and Wenger used to do that and it’s become quite commonplace since when the rest of us want them to go hell for leather at each other at Wembley.
What that will mean is it could be City v Liverpool on consecutive weekends - first in Premier League on 10 April and then the following weekend. That’s the type of schedule that can heat up a rivalry that’s never quite got to the Fergie/Wenger levels. Klopp and Guardiola are perhaps a little too polite.
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FA Cup semi-final draw
It’s drawn by Robbie Fowler on ITV
Manchester City will play Nottingham Forest/Liverpool
Chelsea will play Crystal Palace
The ties to be played at Wembley on 16/17 April.
The last time they met in the FA Cup, that fateful day at Hillsborough in 1989, has been remembered in the City Ground today.
A lovely touch from @NFFC as 97 seats will be left vacant at today’s game in rememberance of those of lost their lives during the Hillsborough disaster ❤️ pic.twitter.com/MbxdXMC8C0
— Katrina (@JxKatrinaa) March 20, 2022
And from the Forest side here, that rivalry of the late-70s.
🏆 Liverpool are back on Trentside today
— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) March 20, 2022
❤️ The Miracle Men v The Mersey Men
🤩 John McGovern talks us through his memories of those fantastic seasons between 1977-1980 when this was the biggest fixture in Europe
🌳🔴 #NFFC
Fans of a certain age will remember this Liverpool v Forest encounter, a high point of Liverpool’s last great era.
Considered by many as our greatest ever Liverpool performance 🤩
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 19, 2022
An incredible Reds display against tomorrow's opponents in 1988 👏 pic.twitter.com/S72l3z680c
The managers speak to ITV.
Steve Cooper: “Ready as we can be, we have to believe in ourselves. We’ve gone to a back four, I don’t mind saying that, we’ve picked some injuries up but I am believe in the next man up. [On the Hillsborough display put on at the City Ground] The 97 should never be forgotten, and rightly so.”
Jürgen Klopp: “They are in the quarter-final for a reason. Home games are useful for them. I think we know what to expect, hope we are ready for it. Robbo is ill, it’s finally got him. Mo felt an injury again. Sadio, they have some massive games coming up. Hopefully it works out.”
Klopp saying Sadio Mane has been rested against Forest so he doesn't get injured ahead of Senegal's World Cup qualifying playoff against Egypt.
— Steve Douglas (@sdouglas80) March 20, 2022
Nice touch#LFC
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They may not need “Trent” today but this is a significant absentee for Liverpool, a player replaced by Joe Gomez, who is not the same sort of player at full-back.
Steve Cooper isn’t quite Clough but he’s the latest man entrusted with reviving Forest, and he’s making a decent job of it, having beaten Arsenal and Leicester in this season’s competition. Great profile by Ben Fisher to read here on someone with some history with today’s opponents.
For Cooper, it all started at Wrexham when his manager, Brian Flynn, encouraged the full-back to pursue coaching and he became the club’s head of youth development. In the early days he juggled taking the under-18s at Wrexham with playing part-time for Rhyl, Bangor and The New Saints. By the age of 27, he had his Uefa pro licence, the highest coaching qualification available. Liverpool liked what they saw and appointed Cooper as a youth coach.
One of the reasons the Clough word wasn’t mentioned is that Jonathan Wilson went back there in his Observer column.
The decline of Forest from European champions to top-six challengers in the 80s tends to be put down to Clough’s falling out with Taylor, and that clearly was a major factor, but so, too, were basic issues of finance. Of course mistakes have been made, some of them major, and, of course, things might have been different had different decisions been taken, but Forest’s post-Clough decline has essentially returned them to the status they held before he took over.
Liverpool have made seven changes. Only Alisson, Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho and Diogo Jota retain their places from the midweek win at Arsenal. Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane are omitted from the squad entirely as Harvey Elliott and Roberto Firmino join Jota up front.
Nottingham Forest have made just the one change from the team that beat QPR 3-1 in midweek. Joe Lolley replaces Scott McKenna for Forest
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Here are the teams
Liverpool: Alisson, Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas, Fabinho, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Elliott, Jota, Firmino. Subs: Adrian, Thiago, Henderson, Jones, Minamino, Diaz, Origi, Matip, Beck.
🏆 𝙏𝙀𝘼𝙈 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 🏆
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 20, 2022
Our line-up for today’s #EmiratesFACup quarter-final! #NOTLIV
Nottingham Forest: Hovath, Spence, Figueiredo, Worrall, Colback, Davis, Zinckernagel, Johnson, Yates, Lolley, Garner. Subs: Samba, Mbe Soh, Bong, Laryea, Cafu, Ojeda, Mighten, Silva, Surridge.
📋 Team news 🆚 Liverpool
— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) March 20, 2022
1️⃣ change for The Reds as Joe Lolley replaces Scott McKenna 👊
🌳🔴 #NFFC pic.twitter.com/SyyWzhbQnf
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Preamble
Who will complete the final four of the FA Cup? A tie of historic significance, a trip down memory lane will decide it. It’s not since the last century, 1999, that Forest and Liverpool faced each other and by then the rivalry of the late-1970s/early-1980s and a less heated revival at the end of the 1980s was a distant memory, even if Liverpool were in the doldrums themselves by 1999. The modern Forest are in the hunt for promotion, but their cup run has seized the imagination and the agenda for now. The Liverpool of 2022 are meanwhile going for the type of quadruple that even the teams of the 1980s would have thought beyond their ken. Jürgen Klopp seems to have decided the cups are worth going for; that wasn’t always the case. The City Ground awaits, a stadium where a visit does conjure memories of glories past, mostly because the place has barely changed in many years. And to draw this preamble to an end, you will notice that we have not actually mentioned his name until the very end: Brian Clough.
Kick-off at 6pm UK time. Join me.
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