Stephen Warnock was raging at what he described as ‘under-10s football’ from Liverpool for the passage of play which saw them fall behind to Nottingham Forest in the first half of their clash at Anfield this afternoon.
Having survived an early scare thanks to a brilliant block from Jeremy Jacquet, the Reds weren’t so lucky in the 24th minute when Dan Ndoye fired the visitors into a lead they fully deserved.
Goalkeeper Matz Sels punted a long ball upfield to Igor Jesus, who held it up for Morgan Gibbs-White to pass onto the Swiss forward, who was under no pressure from the home defence whatsoever as he simply rolled his shot past Alisson Becker and into the far corner of the net.
Warnock slams ‘under-10s’ defending from Liverpool
To say the least, Warnock wasn’t impressed with Liverpool’s defending for the opening goal and acknowledged that Forest were full value for their lead.
The pundit said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “It’s under-10s football from Liverpool in terms of defending. It’s a simple ball over the top, the centre forward is strong and physical and when he lays it off the finish from Dan Ndoye is beautiful. Forest deservedly go ahead.”
All too easy for Ndoye to give Forest the lead
Sadly for Andoni Iraola, Ndoye’s goal comes as quite the video nasty to analyse.
One long ball forward from Sels bypassed every outfield Liverpool player, with Jesus all too easily holding off a half-hearted challenge from Alexis Mac Allister, and Gibbs-White enjoyed a free run onto the breaking ball to lay it off to the Switzerland international.
Ndoye then had time to take a touch and pick his spot, with his shot calmly finished beyond Alisson as Forest took the lead with a goal which was easier than they could ever have imagined.
On so many levels, it was a passage of play which’ll have Iraola and Reds fans tearing out their hair in frustration, and symptomatic of how little effort oppositon teams need to put in to scoring against us.
It could’ve been even worse than 1-0 at half-time if it weren’t for an outstanding save from Alisson to deny Jesus just before the interval.
Forest are on course to win at Anfield for the third season in a row, and at the time of writing, Liverpool need to improve rapidly if they’re to turn this around after a wretched first half.
You can view Ndoye’s goal below, via @footballontnt on X:
Ndoye gives Forest the lead at Anfield! 🌳🔥
📺 Watch live on TNT Sports & HBO Max pic.twitter.com/ag0oZ7UjTm
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 29, 2026
Who could comment on this rubbish display.
Well very upset with the starting team by Iraola…it was as if he learnt very little from last week/I say again the Frimpong is not an EPL player – he just gets too easily brushed away or pushed off the ball…also he should have made his changes at half time…two off the subs that were a made Araujo and Nyoni should have started the game…If he starts Frimpong ever again I am not going to watch – it is too pathetic. YNWA
Liverpool last season and why slot got sacked
1 lowest tackles in the whole of premier league
2 conceded 78 goals
3 conceded 20 set piece goals
4 one of the lowest at winning duels and second balls.
5 vulnerable to the counter attack
Two games in and guess what, nothing has changed.
Forest had the chances to score at least five goals, defensively we are inept.
Whatever positives you can take out of the game, Munoz scored a good goal and isak getting on the score sheet, we can’t defend.
Szoboszlai not influential playing where he is now.
When we lose the ball we are far too open.
We are not playing PSG, Barcelona or real Madrid.
Something needs to change, balance of the team not right , chasing games because we can’t keep clean sheets.
Midfield needs change and it means wirtz dropped.
Three midfielders.