Liverpool match-winner Alexis Mac Allister was delighted with their late 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest but said his side did not play well at the City Ground.
The Argentine struck in injury time to steal a victory after an underwhelming performance by the Reds in the Premier League which saw the hosts dominate much of the game.
After being denied a winner by VAR, Mac Allister slammed home just a few minutes later to earn a win which takes Liverpool level on points with Chelsea and Manchester United in the race for the top four.
He told Sky Sports: “Mixed feelings to be honest. I love scoring, I love winning. But I don’t think we played very well. It’s always nice when you win.
“We need to analyse what we did well and what went wrong. The intensity wasn’t there but we did what we did to win.
“We need points to qualify for the Champions League. Now it’s time to rest and think about the next one.”
Slot: We lost every ball
Manager Arne Slot was similarly critical of his side’s display but felt they grew into the encounter late on.
He added: “We lost every ball. We could not keep the ball for one second. If we went long, we lost the duel. We lost a lot of second balls.
“The only part of the game that went well was defending inside the box. I saw players throwing themselves for long balls, had to defend set pieces. That’s what we did well and stayed in the game.
“The second half I saw something slightly different. We took over the game, maybe because they played on Thursday?
“For the first time this season, that was an advantage for us – that the team we faced played and we were off this week.”
Forest manager Vitor Pereira tasted defeat in heartbreaking fashion in his first Premier League game back but the Portuguese was happy with what he saw from his side as they continue to battle relegation.
He said: “That is football. Not fair a lot of times. We played the first half in a fantastic way, creating problems and we deserved to score. We didn’t. We played three days ago.
“Our capacity to press them was not the same and in the end, we conceded. We need to accept but the supporters were fantastic.
“It was a short time with the team and we need to create this special situation. One point is not enough.
“This is football. It is small details and at least one point was OK.
“They have talent, quality and spirit. If they played the way they played in the first half, then we can get a lot of points.”
