TACTICAL ANALYSIS: Familiar concerns reared their heads again for Liverpool in Turkiye as the Reds conceded three preventable goals
Andoni Iraola was less than pleased with the quality of Liverpool's defending from set pieces as he suffered his first defeat as a manager in the Champions League
Andoni Iraola was less than pleased with the quality of Liverpool's defending from set pieces as he suffered his first defeat as a manager in the Champions League(Image: Ferda Demir/Getty Images)
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Well, that was a nightmare. Liverpool supporters watching the Reds' 3-2 defeat away at Fenerbahce (Nov 4) might have been feeling a sense of deja vu as their team fell to the club ranked sixth in the Turkish Super Lig, with Andoni Iraola's side lacking focus as they conceded three preventable goals shortly after going ahead in each half.
It was a night when Iraola chose to rotate in moderation, preserving the centre-back and midfield pairings that faced Arsenal in the 0-1 defeat at Anfield on Sunday but ringing the changes in wide areas and the attack as Kostas Tsimikas, Joe Gomez, Rio Ngumoha, Victor Munoz Villanueva and Dominik Szoboszlai came in for Milos Kerkez, Ronald Araujo, Cody Gakpo, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz.
Despite prioritising freshness, the changes did not pay off. Barcola failed to convince as a central attacker in his first appearance there for Liverpool, while former Manchester United attacker Mason Greenwood proved a consistent threat on the break as Fenerbahce caused the Reds plenty of problems of their own, evoking troubling memories of last season as Arne Slot's side lost twice away at Galatasaray.
For Iraola, the obvious place to start was Liverpool conceding three goals from set pieces. "The main reason that I can find for why we lost this game is we conceded from three set-pieces," he said.
"It's something that we were doing very well in the league, we were doing quite well until today. We knew it was one of the strengths of Fenerbahce. We concede from a free-kick, a corner and even from the long throw at the end.
"They're goals have hurt us because we've gone twice in front after having good moments, controlling the game, arriving, we've found the goals but after we've conceded in situations we should definitely defend better.
"It's frustration because it's a difficult place to come here and play. In most parts of the game we were thinking we could win this one but obviously it hasn't happened.
"Especially the first goal and the third goal - the second one is a rebound - but the first one, I don't think we set the wall properly and the last one, [Vedat] Muriqi wins the ball against three defenders, it's definitely something we need to defend better."
The way Liverpool defended for all three goals rang major alarm bells - but the bulk (0.98) of Fenerbahce's 1.78 xG (expected goals) actually came from open play, Irfan Kahveci rattling the bar at the end of a fast break in the hosts' biggest opportunity shortly after the Reds went 0-1 up.
Liverpool need an instant turnaround away at Crystal Palace on Sunday (Nov 8) to avoid going into the international break on the back of four games without a win in regulation time, as momentum has suddenly unravelled.
What went wrong in Turkiye - and how can Iraola sort it out, ASAP?
Concerning defensive pattern emerging
Araujo has rightly been lauded for his reliable contributions at right-back since joining on loan from Barcelona in the summer, but it wasn't only in the Uruguayan's absence on Wednesday night that Liverpool have conceded chances from the right side of their defence this season.
Against Arsenal at the weekend, Araujo's high positioning from a goal kick left Jeremy Jacquet short of passing options when attempting to atone for Alisson's error in passing out from the back, and Arsenal subsequently scored after winning back possession in the final third.
With Gomez, another centre-back, filling in at right-back against Fenerbahce, his positioning caused Liverpool similar problems. No sooner had Fenerbahce equalised - through Greenwood's deflected free kick, which Jacquet turned away from, the ball bouncing off his midriff past Alisson - than they were in again, Romelu Lukaku strolling past Virgil van Dijk and latching onto the end of a through ball from Matteo Guendouzi.
Lukaku's ball across the box was met with the toe of Jacquet, nicking it away from Greenwood, but with Gomez nowhere to be seen it trickled past the far post; if N'Golo Kante had continued his run into the box, he could have had a tap in.
Though none of the hosts' goals came from the right side, their biggest chance - Kahveci's effort off the woodwork in the 27th minute - did.
After a left-back pressing trap from Tsimikas - one of Iraola's specialities - failed to result in Liverpool winning the ball, it broke to Kante in a central position.
With Munoz having jumped inside to offer a passing option if Tsimikas won the ball back, Fenerbahce's Player of the Match, Archie Brown, was left with acres of space to charge forward from left-back with only Gomez covering both his run and the clever inside run of Kahveci.
Gomez, caught between two stools, couldn't stop the cross - and Liverpool were given their first scare of the match as the ball cannoned back off the crossbar.
That was Fenerbahce's first shot of the match, and it was an augur of things to come. The free kick that led to the equaliser arrived a minute later, and Liverpool similarly switched off after taking the lead for a second time through Isak in the second half.
Opta xG race chart: Fenerbahce saw their xG spike immediately after both Liverpool goals, first through Irfan Kahveci's shot off the crossbar in the first half and then through Archie Brown's equaliser in the second
Opta xG race chart: Fenerbahce saw their xG spike immediately after both Liverpool goals, first through Irfan Kahveci's shot off the crossbar in the first half and then through Archie Brown's equaliser in the second(Image: Opta)
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It is hard to draw any other conclusion from the pattern of Wednesday night's goals than that Liverpool were complacent in Turkiye, taking their eye off the ball after going ahead and lacking the bravery for the proper fight that came their way.
Former Liverpool player Dirk Kuyt, whose temporary spell in charge at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium came to an end with the win against his old club, set his side up to give the Reds a physical battle - leaning on the Premier League experience of Greenwood, Guendouzi, Kante and Lukaku along with long-time Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson and former Wolves right-back Nelson Semedo.
Kuyt's introduction of Muriqi off the bench with half an hour to go proved a masterstroke, too, the big Kosovar taking over from Lukaku to continue bullying Jacquet - who had his first real bad game in a Liverpool shirt, winning just two of his five aerial duels and looking uncharacteristically cowed in the hostile Istanbul atmosphere.
Individual errors and breakdowns in communication were at play for each Fenerbahce goal, not least Brown's second equaliser from the second phase of a corner, when Alisson, Gakpo and Szobsoszlai each played a role in letting the hosts fashion what ended up being an easy tap-in for the left-back.
But the gaping spaces on the right in open play should be cause for concern for Iraola. Various sides already this season - Fenerbahce, Villarreal, Fulham, Bournemouth, Arsenal to name a few - have found it too easy to exploit the space between Liverpool's right winger and right-back with overlaps on that side, and only last-ditch defending or wasteful finishing has spared the Reds from further blushes from such situations.
Brown didn't just finish the game with a goal and an assist, but he also had the second-most shots for Fenerbahce (three) behind Greenwood, finished level with the No. 11 for touches in Liverpool's penalty area (four), and created the joint-most chances (three) alongside Kahveci - all while playing as a left-back.
Kuyt evidently saw the opportunity at half-time, as Fenerbahce's use of their left flank in attack went from 19% in the first half to 45% in the second half.
Fenerbahce pass map and average positions (Opta): note how Irfan Kahveci (17) took up an inside position with Archie Brown (3) flooding the space vacated out wide behind Liverpool's press
Fenerbahce pass map and average positions (Opta): note how Irfan Kahveci (17) took up an inside position with Archie Brown (3) flooding the space vacated out wide behind Liverpool's press(Image: Opta)
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Teams targeting Liverpool's right side of defence is nothing new - it has been an issue for years under three managers now - but with the lop-sided way Iraola likes to use his wide players, serious improvement is required in making that press more watertight to avoid further punishment from teams setting out to exploit it.
The blame doesn't necessarily always fall on the players on that side. If Tsimikas had won the ball from Greenwood ahead of the Kahveci chance, that space doesn't open up - but a braver man-to-man press might have seen Gomez jump up to Brown with Jacquet instead picking up the inside run of Kahveci.
Instead, Liverpool are being caught out in moments of indecision like this on a weekly basis. That is to be expected as Iraola implements a brand-new pressing system, and in many ways the Reds have done well to implement it quite so effectively in the majority of games this season.
Of greater concern, though, might be the squad depth in the winger positions, and the attack more generally. Gakpo, Munoz and Rio have all failed to convince defensively when starting on the right - and on Wednesday, it wasn't just going back towards their own goal that Liverpool's attackers struggled.
Barcola is not a striker
As a winger with a knack for finding space in the box (9.79 touches in the box per 90) and getting chances to shoot (0.96 xG per 90), being in the top 4% of Champions League wingers and attacking midfielders for both of these metrics, putting Bradley Barcola up front - in theory - wasn't the worst idea.
For all that this result stings, Iraola did arguably have greater flexibility to experiment in this game than in any other game so far this season, Liverpool having won their first three games in the competition prior to Wednesday.
While the head coach might well be forgiven for a selection mistake in a game with as little riding on it as this, he is however unlikely to try Barcola in that position again anytime soon.
Clearly uncomfortable in central areas without the freedom to drift inside from the wing, Barcola touched the ball just twice in Fenerbahce's penalty area in the first half and never got the opportunity to test the pace of Milan Skriniar and Kojo Peprah Oppong in behind.
His lack of impact wasn't helped by the way Liverpool attacked. With Szoboszlai - filling in at No. 10 - unable to create anything from central positions, the Reds looked to cross the ball into the box as often as possible.
Both of the chances the Hungarian created came from crossing situations. At 6'0" tall, Barcola isn't short for a winger, but he is hardly an aerial presence - and of the 29 crosses the Reds lumped into the area from open play (Opta: 22 of them prior to Isak's introduction off the bench), only one met the head of the Frenchman, who duly saw his header sail harmlessly wide.
All open-play crosses (Opta): Liverpool bombarded Fenerbahce's box despite lacking an aerial threat up front in the absence of Alexander Isak
All open-play crosses (Opta): Liverpool bombarded Fenerbahce's box despite lacking an aerial threat up front in the absence of Alexander Isak(Image: Opta)
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Fenerbahce's defenders were easily able to head away pretty much everything that came their way, racking up 33 clearances by the final whistle. Three of Liverpool's four big chances (the fourth being Isak's headed goal) came in the first five minutes, two of them in the same passage of play as both Munoz and Barcola conspired to shank the ball awkwardly as it fell to them after Tsimikas' ball to the back post.
After that, the hosts were rarely troubled by clear-cut opportunities for Liverpool. Rio and Munoz were energetic in their ball-carrying once again, Rio once again putting up mind-boggling numbers with his dribbling (7/10 successful dribbles), but the lack of reliable end product that has kept the pair from starting games consistently in recent weeks continued here.
It was another odd performance from Szoboszlai, too, who hasn't looked perfectly suited to any of the positions he has played this season. The No. 8 completed just three of the 20 crosses he attempted and saw just one touch in the box, failing to win either of his duels and making just one defensive contribution - a clearance in Liverpool's own box on the cusp of half time.
At the moment, Liverpool have just one recognised, senior option in both the striker position and the No. 10 role. Neither of them started here, and the Reds looked much the worse off for it.
Despite seeing 67.6% of possession (Opta), Liverpool made just one ball recovery in the attacking half in the entire game (Opta); that was in the first half. As the match descended into a basketball game after Isak's goal in the second, it was painfully apparent that the Reds could not sustain attacks.
A lack of cutting edge up top, a lack of conviction in the press, and a lack of bravery and focus at the back. This was as bad as it's got this season and arguably up there with some of the worst Liverpool performances of last season - it simply cannot happen again.
Nyoni the standout again
It should be a source of embarrassment for Liverpool's senior pros that the best two players on the pitch in red on Wednesday night were teenagers Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni.
We've touched on Rio's performance - despite a lack of end product, he ran Nelson Semedo ragged and looked the likeliest to score before Isak's introduction - but Nyoni was once again a class above.
The efficiency of the 19-year-old's passing game is astounding, and he is already Liverpool's best midfielder from deep positions in this respect. Here, he took 105 touches and completed 87 of his 95 passes - each of those figures the highest among any player on the pitch.
Not only did Nyoni move the ball quickly, almost exclusively with a single touch of the ball, but he made more line-breaking passes (33) than any other player in the 18 matches that made up this round of Champions League fixtures - the next closest Bayern Munich's Joshua Kimmich (22).
Nyoni made double the number of passes into the final third (22) than the next closest player in this game, Alexis Mac Allister, who was by no means one of Liverpool's worst performers but was comfortably outshone here by his junior partner.
His first senior goal - though lucky to deflect past Ederson - was just rewards for another accomplished performance. Along with his sensational vertical progression, which is undoubtedly his biggest strength, Nyoni made the most defensive contributions (six), interceptions (three) and recoveries (nine) among Liverpool's outfielders - and, week by week, he is looking more and more like the No. 6 the team has been crying out for.
He didn't cover himself in glory for the third goal, but was just one of three Liverpool defenders - plus Alisson - who could have done better to stop Muriqi from rising to head home.
Unlike the majority of his teammates, Nyoni could walk out of the Sukru Saracoglu with his head high, and that new contract in the works is richly deserved.
As for the rest, the standards simply must be higher. Liverpool let Fenerbahce back in twice on Wednesday immediately after scoring - as strong a sign as any you'll get that this team felt they'd done enough.
Though mishaps in the press can be explained partly by an unfamiliar line-up, a lack of appetite for the fight - however much it may well be a symptom of the odd nature of the early stages of this updated Champions League format - is never acceptable.
If Man United's comeback from 2-0 behind to beat Roma the night before was anything to go by, the role of the Premier League's big club in crisis could well be up for grabs after this weekend.
Don't give them the opportunity, Reds.
*All statistics used are from Fotmob unless otherwise stated.