Nottingham Forest have been urged to strike the right balance between sitting back and going after Liverpool this weekend if they are to stand any chance of "nicking something".
Forest mustered just three shots - none of which were on target, against Brighton and Hove Albion on Tuesday night - but came away from the south coast with a second away point and first clean sheet on the road this season. Head coach Steve Cooper had goalkeeper Dean Henderson to thank in large part after the Manchester United loanee made seven saves to keep the Seagulls out.
Brighton are known to be notoriously profligate in front of goal, though; and the same can't be said of Jurgen Klopp's side, who have already scored nine and seven goals in single matches so far this season against Bournemouth and earlier this month against Rangers in the Champions League. Despite their slow start to the campaign, they are still the fourth-highest scorers in the Premier League, as it is their defence which has been costing them points.
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Amazon Prime pundit Lee Dixon has said that there is a possibility Forest "might nick something" off their upcoming opponents but that a different plan will be required than the one employed in midweek. They have been warned that it will be high-risk, high-reward, though, as getting it wrong will open them up to being "destroyed" by the visitors from Merseyside.
"When you look from Steve Cooper's point of view, he's an intelligent man," Dixon said. "He's been around the game a long time; he's been very successful. He'll know what to say to that group of players.
"There are some experienced players in the dressing room as well. They're not fools; they don't get fooled easily. They know they got away with one today. But there's a team spirit there that I think they need to build on. I'm sure the senior players are going around saying the right things. Steve Cooper will be backing that up.
"The training, the coaches, all of that will come into play this week. They've got to harness what they had today: the positives, as few as there were. But they got a point. They've got to use that because they're not going to outplay Liverpool; they're not going to outfight Liverpool. They've got to match them in certain departments, like energy levels. They've got to engage onto them.
"If they don't engage and sit back, Liverpool will just destroy them. If they go after them, they'll get destroyed as well. They've got to get the balance right. And all that Monday to Friday, that's where you create something, with the spirit you've got from tonight, then you possibly might nick something off them.
"It's going to be very difficult, but what's he supposed to do? Does he just go, 'we're just going to get hammered and forget it?' Then get hammered the week after and wait until we've got someone we're capable of beating'? This league doesn't let up. Every week there's somebody to beat."
What do you make of Dixon's plan of action? Have your say in the comments...
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