Andoni Iraola did not dress it up. Liverpool's perfect Champions League start ended in Istanbul on Wednesday night because of what their own head coach called "cheap goals, messy goals" — all three of them conceded from set pieces in a 3-2 defeat by Dirk Kuyt's Fenerbahce.
Twice Liverpool led at a deafening Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, and twice they handed the lead back almost immediately. Trey Nyoni's first goal for the club was cancelled out by Mason Greenwood's deflected free-kick, and after Alexander Isak restored the advantage, Archie Brown's tap-in and Vedat Muriqi's 79th-minute header completed a famous comeback — as our Fenerbahce report detailed on the night.
Three set pieces, three self-inflicted wounds
Every Fenerbahce goal came from a dead ball, and every one carried a Liverpool error. Greenwood's free-kick found its way in off Jeremy Jacquet. The second equaliser was worse: Cody Gakpo's header dropped the ball past Alisson and left Brown with a tap-in, a miscommunication Iraola later put down partly to the noise. For the winner, Liverpool controlled the first phase of a long throw but lost the second ball, and Muriqi outmuscled three defenders to head home.
"They are cheap goals. They are messy goals," Iraola said, in quotes carried by This Is Anfield. "It's a free-kick. It's quite far also and it's through the wall. Mistakes can cost you. For the last goal, it's a long throw and the first phase is controlled but after a very long ball, Muriqi wins it."
The frustration was sharpened by the fact that Liverpool knew what was coming. "We conceded from three set pieces," Iraola added. "It's something we were dealing with quite well until today. In pre-season we worked on those situations. We knew it was one of the strengths of Fenerbahce." He also admitted the atmosphere defeated even basic communication: "In the stadium it was almost impossible to communicate because it was so noisy. It was even difficult for me to give any kind of instruction. I suppose the communication between Ali and Cody was difficult."
Kuyt's miracle, learned at Liverpool
Across the dugout, the story was pure theatre. Kuyt, in his last match in interim charge of Fenerbahce after stepping in following Ismail Kartal's resignation, beat the club he served for six years — using, by his own account, the very lesson Anfield taught him, drawing on Liverpool's 2005 Istanbul comeback as inspiration for his players.
"A very special night for everyone who loves Fenerbahce," Kuyt said, in quotes reported by the Gazette. "We told each other to stick together and be united. That's something I learned from Liverpool. We made a miracle tonight, not many expected us to win."
So what does this change?
Liverpool's first defeat of the league phase is not a crisis — they remain well placed — but the pattern is becoming the story of Iraola's start. This was the third European game in which his side have conceded three goals, and a team that has scored 14 times in four Champions League games but only 11 in nine Premier League matches now has a defensive problem to match its attacking inconsistency. Twice leading and twice conceding within four minutes is not bad luck; it is a set-piece flaw opponents will target until the international break gives Iraola time on the training pitch.
For Fenerbahce, a first Champions League win of the season, achieved against their interim coach's old club, transforms their league-phase outlook — and Kuyt signs off from his caretaker spell with the defining result of it. Whoever takes the job permanently inherits a squad that has just beaten Liverpool.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Iraola's honesty is refreshing, but honesty does not defend set pieces. Liverpool spent £285m on the triple substitution that retook the lead, then lost the game to a long throw and a free-kick through the wall — the glamorous end of this team is elite, the basics are not, and until that changes, nights like Istanbul will keep happening.
Can Iraola fix Liverpool's set-piece defending, or is it the flaw that will define his first season? Let us know in the comments.
