Liverpool 2-2 Nottingham Forest: Two Draws From Two For Liverpool As Andoni Iraola Awaits His First Win

Liverpool played their second match of the new Premier League season at home to Nottingham Forest, in what was Andoni Iraola's first competitive home game of the season. And the home crowd were looking for a better overall performance today, compared to their opening day draw with Newcastle at St James Park. 

First Half

Andoni Iraola made two changes from their opening game against Newcastle as he looked to try and find a better balance between defence and attack. The squad going into this game was identical to the Newcastle fixture, with Federico Chiesa and Harvey Elliott still missing from the squad as Chiesa was said to be injured and Elliott is closing in on a move to Valencia.

Both Alexis Mac Allister and Victor Munoz came into the side, the latter of whom had a fantastic impact from the bench at St James Park, earning the Reds a vital penalty to snatch a point late in the game. The players to make way for the duo were Ryan Gravenberch and Rio Ngumoha, with Ngumoha in particular struggling out on the right hand side on match day one.

Liverpool's Starting XI: 

• Alisson Becker

• Milos Kerkez

• Virgil Van Dijk (C)

• Jeremy Jacquet

• Jeremie Frimpong

• Alexis Mac Allister

• Dominik Szoboszlai

• Cody Gakpo

• Florian Wirtz

• Victor Munoz

• Alexander Isak

Nottingham Forest's side featured former Reds defender Neco Williams and star player and captain Morgan Gibbs White, while their new £50 million signing, Liam Delap, began the game on the bench. 

Liverpool and Forest began the game very evenly matched with both sides having a few half chances. Liverpool's chance fell to Cody Gakpo after a through ball into the middle of the box by Mac Allister, but Neco Williams made a perfectly timed sliding challenge in the nick of time. 

Forest then had a chance at the other end as a ball is played in from the right hand side by Ola Aina which was met by Dan Ndoye, who headed it down for Igor Jesus, but a Jeremy Jacquet tackle prevented the Forest striker getting a clean strike at goal.

And it was Nottingham Forest who took the lead. A long ball played in by Mats Sels in the Forest goal, which was brought down by Igor Jesus, laying it off to Gibbs White. He waited for support, slid it out to the left hand side, inside the box to Dan Ndoye who slotted it into the far corner and gave Forest a 1-0 advantage that, based on the first 30 minutes, they probably deserved.

Liverpool would then find the back of the net through Florian Wirtz, but it was ruled out for offside as Jeremie Frimpong was deemed to be ahead of the last Forest defender in the build up to the goal. 

Victor Munoz would have a chance that would go just over the bar and Alisson would pull off a world class save from Igor Jesus in additional time, but the first half would end with Liverpool 1-0 down to Forest, and Andoni Iraola with work to do.

Second Half

As the Reds came out for the second half, Andoni Iraola opted to make no changes to his side, and while LFC showed a little more energy and endeavour in the first 10 minutes of the half, the end product in the final third remained underwhelming. 

However, Liverpool grew into the half, and eventually found the goal they had been looking for. Wirtz played a ball through to Gakpo who spun the Forest defence and got a low cross into the box and Alexander Isak was waiting to score a tap in at the back post, 1-1.

So with the momentum behind Liverpool, the Reds pushed for their second to try and complete the turn around.

But a quick throw in from Nottingham Forest in the 70th minute, led to Alisson rushing out his goal and bringing Neco Williams down in the box, with referee Sam Barrott pointing to the spot. Morgan Gibbs-White converted the resulting penalty for Forest, leaving Liverpool 20 minutes to try and get back into the game.

Iraola turned to his bench to try and turn the game back in Liverpool's favour with Tsimikas, Rio Ngumoha, Gravenberch, Araujo and Trey Nyoni all coming on for Kerkez, Mac Allister, Frimpong, Jacquet and Cody Gakpo, who may have played his final game for LFC today. And one of those subs would be involved in LFC's equaliser.

Ronald Araujo played a ball through the Forest midfield to Wirtz, who slipped Victor Munoz through on goal, and Liverpool's Spanish winger finished emphatically to bring Liverpool level again with 10 minutes of normal time to go.

But despite Liverpool pushing for a winner, it wasn't to be. The game ending 2-2, making it two draws from two for Andoni Iraola as he still looks to find his first competitive win in charge of Liverpool.