Arne Slot admits 'we got away with it' after Liverpool snatch late win

Liverpool were second best for long spells and struggled to cope with Forest's intensity, particularly in a disjointed first half. Former Reds defender Jamie Carragher branded the opening 45 minutes a "horror show", and Slot did not disagree.

"The first half was really poor, the worst we've played until now," the Liverpool head coach said. "The second half was much better and we controlled the game more, but overall we got more than we deserved. A draw would have been a fairer result."

The match turned in stoppage time when Alexis Mac Allister struck the winner deep into added time. Minutes earlier, the midfielder had seen a goal ruled out by VAR after the ball deflected onto his arm following a save.

"Since VAR is there, I always struggle to celebrate too much," Slot admitted. "You never know what they might see. When they disallowed it, I thought maybe nothing was going for us again. But this time, they checked and pointed to the centre circle. That meant we had won."

Liverpool were also forced into a late change before kick-off when Florian Wirtz withdrew with back pain sustained in the warm-up.

"We don't think it's serious," Slot explained. "But in this league you need to be 100 per cent. He wasn't close to that, so we decided not to take the risk."

New Forest boss Vitor Pereira was left furious after losing his first Premier League match in charge, describing the result as "very, very unfair".

"I'm frustrated, angry with football," he said. "But we must keep the mentality and come back stronger."

Liverpool left with three points - but Slot knew they had ridden their luck.