You’ve Jota love it

Our mini resurgence continues then, as Klopp named the same team that dismantled Leeds in the previous game.

It was a fairly dull first half in truth as Forest showed very little ambition to attack and we struggled to create against a back five and packed midfield. Part of me was wondering if this type of game would have better suited a target man in Nunez, as opposed to the false 9 in Gakpo, as there was just no space for him to operate and he struggled to get involved.

Second half was a different story. Clearly Forest can’t defend set pieces to save their lives and at the other end, their long throws were causing us all kinds of problems, although both their goals had a degree of good fortune to them with the deflections. It was a bit of a throw back though, to the Stoke team of the Rory Delap era, where you were screaming at your players to put it out for a corner instead of a throw.

It was Jota (McMOTM) though, who broke the deadlock. A set piece that caused havoc in the Forest box and Jota was there to pounce. If his first goal was opportunistic, his second was just sheer class as he chested and volleyed into the corner of the net. Salah rounded off the scoring with a nice finish of his own, again coming from a set piece, to move level with Fowler in the scoring charts.

We kept with the system of Trent in midfield in possession and RB when not. I still don’t like this system. Now, I do like what I’ve seen from Trent in the midfield role and he’s clearly enjoying himself in that position so I’ve no problem with him playing there but I just feel the system has such obvious flaws. If you’re the opposition manager, you know we’re going to struggle to overload your left flank without a right back, so you can leave your winger further up the pitch and if we lose possession, that ball is going to be on all day long. If Konate is in position to cover the RB position, there’s big gaps in the centre of defence.

In the games so far where we’ve utilised it – Arsenal, Leeds and Forest, we saw Arsenal take advantage of it first half, their first goal they basically just ran in a straight line through the middle of the pitch and the second with a cross from our right side that came in unimpeded. Leeds were having some joy down our right as well, before capitulating after our second goal went in. It’s a small sample size then and with two wins and a draw since playing that way, you can’t argue with the results. I still think the system is flawed and overcomplicated though. It’ll be interesting to see what the plan for Trent is next season, whether we sign a RB and move him into midfield permanently, or whether we persist with this hybrid role.

Nunez is the other big head scratcher going into next season. Klopp was bemoaning his lack of English in his presser the other day, which I found odd as he never seemed to have an issue with Keita and Bobby having little to no English. It’s quite clear though, that Klopp prefers Gakpo in the false 9 at present. I’ve said it before but the Nunez signing has not made a lot of sense this season. I’m sure there is a plan for him but I’m struggling to see what it is.

In other positive news, Diaz looked lively when he came on, showed some nice skill and he was so difficult to dispossess, as Forest struggled to contain him. Looking forward to seeing him back to his best next season.

Anyway the games keep coming thick and fast, West Ham on Wednesday and then Spurs next Sunday. All our games are must win now really, to keep alive any lingering hopes of top four and to at least secure a Europa league spot. Given the wretched form of the two London clubs, coinciding with our upturn in form, you’d fancy us to take all 6 points but in a season where we’ve had more false dawns than a rooster with Tourettes, I don’t want to get my hopes up too much.

Anyway back to back wins are not to be sniffed at in this season of inconsistency and with players returning from injury and finding some form, we look in a good place for a strong finish to the season. Walk on!!