Three Takeaways From Liverpool’s Chaotic Nottingham Forest Draw

Two games. Two 2–2 draws for Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool.

The Reds are emerging as the Premier League’s entertainers, but history suggests that the very best are often more than on-pitch jesters.

Iraola’s side fought back twice against a Nottingham Forest team that will be hard to beat under Oliver Glasner, and the visitors were good value for their point.

The result, salvaged by an excellent Víctor Muñoz strike after 82 minutes, means Liverpool have yet to triumph at the start of Iraola’s tenure, and things likely would’ve been worse for the hosts had Alisson not made an outstanding save from Igor Jesus on the stroke of half-time.

The Reds, dysfunctional and disconnected for swathes of this bout, are still finding themselves after a bleak 2025–26 campaign. They leaned on their resilience to ensure Forest didn’t claim a third-successive victory at Anfield, with Iraola’s changes also helping them turn the tide.

Here are three Liverpool takeaways from Saturday lunchtime’s 2–2 draw.

Iraola’s Attempted Midfield Fix

Alexis Mac Allister came into Iraola’s starting lineup. | Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images

Jamie Carragher can plead as much as he wants, but Liverpool will not enter the market for a holding midfielder in the final days of the summer window.

The Reds’ woes in defensive transition on Tyneside reignited talk about their midfield configuration, as Ryan Gravenberch was twice caught ahead of the ball in the build-up to Newcastle United’s counterattacking goals last weekend.

Andoni Iraola spoke before Saturday’s game about his midfielders’ need to recognize the right time to contribute higher upfield without sacrificing a secure rest defense. “Balance” was the word he used frequently, and he sought to achieve that by dropping the adventurous Gravenberch in favor of Alexis Mac Allister.

Few Liverpool supporters would suggest that the Argentine is the solution, given his stark demise last season, and those skeptics would’ve been emboldened by Saturday’s display.

The Reds weren’t undone on the counter this time around, but rather, a direct lump upfield by goalkeeper Matz Sels. Mac Allister tracked Igor Jesus and was soon bullied in the duel by the Brazilian forward. Dan Ndoye celebrated his first Premier League goal in over a year moments later.

"THEY ARE AT IT AGAIN! THEY ARE AT IT AGAIN!"

Dan Ndoye gives Forest the lead at Anfield 🚨

🔴 Liverpool: 0
🔵 Nottingham Forest: 1
⏱️ 23’ pic.twitter.com/qraymXHvww
— USA Sports (@usasports) August 29, 2026

The Argentine occasionally offered subtlety in and around the final third and was an active contributor defensively; however, he also won just half of his 10 ground duels and one of his four aerial duels.

Liverpool’s “football doctor,” as he was hailed by Jürgen Klopp, isn’t the scrappy force he once was. You can bully him, and thus, run over the Reds’ midfield.

Víctor Muñoz Makes Things Happen

Liverpool currently have an abundance of wide players who’d rather play off the left, so Iraola alleviated that issue by tasking marauding fullback Jeremie Frimpong with providing a source of width down the right.

That, though, created its own issue. You see, Frimpong just isn’t very good. His feet move at a speed his brain can’t keep up with, and when he does stumble upon a rare moment of serenity, he doesn’t have the required technique to execute in the final third.

Bradley Barcola doesn’t exactly fix this right-sided issue, given his preference for the left. This is a very liberal Reds attack, but Víctor Muñoz has shown on his first two competitive appearances that he could be the point of difference.

He was the nominal left-winger against Forest, but drifted to the opposite flank after Rio Ngumoha’s introduction. Muñoz is raw, but he’s certainly lively. There’s something for Iraola to work with, and his finish was unlike anything he’d produced in the game beforehand.

The young Spaniard fired an albeit deflected effort beyond Sels without thinking twice, having received Florian Wirtz’s pass superbly on the half turn.

The 23-year-old wants to make things happen, and he’s the sort of player the Anfield faithful will quickly grow to love.

Positive Steps for Under-Pressure Stars

Florian Wirtz — Wirtz teed up Víctor Muñoz’s first Liverpool goal. | Peter Byrne/PA Images/Getty Images

It’s been a care-free start to the 2026–27 Premier League season, as the division seeks to heal itself from the attritional, set-piece-heavy 2025–26 campaign.

Playmakers have flourished. Cole Palmer was perhaps the standout performer of Matchday 1, and the second gameweek was ignited by Rayan Cherki’s impish brilliance with the ball at his feet.

Liverpool supposedly have a player of similar ilk in Florian Wirtz, but the German has so far performed without the conviction of a superstar since joining from Bayer Leverkusen in a $157 million deal a year ago. There were spurts, but nothing sustained in year one, and plenty jumped on his back after a timid showing at St. James’ Park.

And when his cute first-half equalizer was ruled out following VAR intervention for offside, it seemed as if Wirtz would be condemned to perpetual misfortune on Merseyside. But he’d eventually provide a telling contribution. Space is a valuable currency for Liverpool’s No. 7, and he cultivated just enough to spear a piercing pass into the feet of Muñoz. The Spaniard finished brilliantly, yet the sequence was most encouraging because of Wirtz’s conviction. Talk about a killer pass.

It was a timely moment, given the recent scrutiny, and Alexander Isak, otherwise largely anonymous, will want to build on his first goal of the season.

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