If only there were a way both sides could lose.

As the clock ticked towards the 96th minute at the City Ground, a point felt far too generous for both teams.

Amazingly, there were 28 shots in the match. Yes, 28 of them. Just the 10 for Liverpool, but you’d be hard-pressed to remember any of them.

Well, except for the only one that mattered in the end.

From absolutely nowhere, Alexis Mac Allister sends the travelling Redmen into bedlam – for the second time in 10 minutes – as Liverpool come back from Nottingham with all three points.

You’ll take the win, but as with the majority of our wins this season, you don’t feel good about it – unless you’re seven pints in behind the Forest goal.

What was that opening 45 minutes?

With Florian Wirtz in the line-up, you feared the worst for the home side. The German has been getting better with every passing week, and you’d expect him to tie a shattered Forest defence in knots.

But Joe Gomez Curtis Jones comes in after Wirtz pulls up in the warm-up, and it’s a shock to the system for him. To be fair, he wasn’t the only player who failed to impress in Nottingham, but being easily dispossessed early on did set the tone for Liverpool’s afternoon.

Misplaced pass after misplaced pass. Despite little pressure from Forest, Liverpool pen themselves in, and it’s all their own doing. 

The second half isn’t much better either. Liverpool looked like a team of strangers again after recent signs that things might finally be clicking – particularly with the front three.

Are we watching Mo Salah’s final days at Liverpool?

Mo Salah has given everything to Liverpool Football Club, but I’m not sure how much more he has left to give.

The skill is still there. The strength is too. But that little yard of pace seems to have gone, and he’s starting to look mortal again. The sight of him effectively giving up a 1v1 against Neco Williams was tough to watch. 

You’re waiting for Mo to silence the critics again. It doesn’t happen against Forest, but he inevitably will. And when he does, cherish it.

Arne Slot has got to use Rio Ngumoha more

You don’t need stats to tell you that there was zero chemistry between Cody Gakpo, Mo Salah and Hugo Ekitike throughout that match. 

It’s only when Rio Ngumoha replaces one of them that Liverpool start to look threatening again, and the crowd finally have something worth travelling for.

It was the 17-year-old’s cross that led to Mac Allister’s disallowed first goal. 

I know Arne Slot says he wants to protect him, but what about protecting the fans from 90 minutes of boredom?

When Ngumoha gets the ball, you don’t know what he’s going to do next, but you want to find out. Please Arne. We need to find out.

What’s Liverpool’s excuse?

Forest have an excuse at least. Playing under their 112th different manager this season, they come into the game after a long trip from Turkey following their superb 3-0 win over Fenerbahce in the Europa League. So you know, jet lag and all that.

What’s ours? Arne Slot had a week to prepare for this clash, but the Reds still came out looking like they’d never seen a football in their entire life.

It was another game where Liverpool’s moments of quality were fleeting. I’ve had farts that have lasted longer than our spells of dominance this season.

After a fifth win on the trot against Everton in September, I remember saying, “If this is us when we are bad, imagine when things start to click.”

Five months on and you’re still imagining.