The FA Cup drew former rivals Liverpool and Nottingham Forest together for their first meeting of the century, having last played each other in 1999.
With no league match to worry about thanks to the international break, Jürgen Klopp sent out a relatively strong team. There were still seven changes from the team that beat Arsenal in mid-week though, with Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Diogo Jota the only men to continue. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Former Liverpool youth coach Steven Cooper made just one change to the team that beat Queens Park Rangers in mid-week, replacing Scott McKenna with Joe Lolley. This saw Forest change from a 3-4-1-2 to a 4-2-3-1 shape.
The game started at a high tempo, with lots of turnovers in midfield.
Forest managed to go toe-to-toe with Liverpool in these early stages not just because they matched their energy levels but also because they kept compact, pressing but without opening themselves up. They did this by setting up in a narrow 4-4-1-1 formation, congesting the centre so that any attempt by Liverpool to play through would see them quickly surrounded by Forest players.
This would leave space out wide for Liverpool to use, however it was of little benefit. With Joe Gomez a natural centre-back at right-back and left-footed Harvey Elliott ahead of him, it was left mainly to Kostas Tsimikas on the left to provide the width. Liverpool would continually send the ball wide to him to cross, but given Liverpool’s frontline isn’t particularly tall and Forest were packing the box, he didn’t really have much to aim at.
Forest did have one problem though. Keinan Davis would push forward onto Liverpool’s centre-backs and Philip Zinckernagel stuck to Fabinho, however Naby Keïta would drop in next to the Brazilian. Rather than allowing Keïta to go free, Ryan Yates would generally push forward to close him down, but this would leave space behind him for Roberto Firmino to drop off into, allowing Liverpool to play through Forest.
After the initial burst, Forest began to drop off though – still in a 4-4-1-1 shape but with Davis sitting off to block passes into midfield rather than chasing after the centre-backs. This allowed Forest to keep their shape better, but it also gave Ibrahima Konaté more time and space on the ball, allowing him to push forward and pick out passes.
Forest were also impressing going forward. Although perhaps helped by Liverpool tending to drop off into a 4-5-1 shape, they were braver than most Premier League sides are against the Reds, looking to pass their way out from the back. They particularly impressed for their willingness to carry the ball forward to draw out their opponents, forcing Liverpool players into closing them down so that space opened up for their teammates. They were direct, quickly breaking at Liverpool, but in the sense of playing quick forward passes along the ground rather than simply hoofing it long.
This bravery was risky though, and several times Forest gave the ball away in dangerous areas trying to play out.
Liverpool began to press much more in the second half, making it harder for Forest to pass out so that the home side gave the ball away much more than they had in the first.
There was still no breakthrough though, so Klopp turned to his bench, bringing on Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcântara, Luis Diaz and Takumi Minamino for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Keïta, Fabinho and Elliott in a quadruple substitution.
Liverpool finally got their opener with twelve minutes remaining. Djed Spence intercepted a pass but his touch was heavy, allowing Henderson to nip in, steal the ball then play it to Tsimikas to attack the gap Spence had left. Tsimikas pushed forward on the ball before cutting inside onto his right to cross. Minamino made a lateral run across Forest’s backline, causing Jack Colback to initially follow him before Tobias Figueiredo took over, giving Jota the little bit of space needed to finish.
Forest pushed for an equaliser but Liverpool held out, taking them through to a semi-final against Manchester City.
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