As Liverpool’s defeat against Fenerbahce wore on in Istanbul on Wednesday night, Bradley Barcola became more and more visibly frustrated.

It has not been an easy start to the Frenchman’s Liverpool career, and though he scored a Champions League hat-trick on matchday two against LASK, that game remains the only one of his 13 Reds appearances in which he’s found the net.

Iraola has now played Barcola in each of the three attacking positions at Liverpool, and though the Basque coach is keen for his wingers to be multi-faceted players who can shine on either side, it has been clear from the start that Barcola is at his best from the left. As he tries to find some form and rhythm with his new club, Iraola should stop the tinkering and play the £123m in his favoured role.

Barcola should be Liverpool’s left winger

Having wingers who regularly switch sides is not a new thing in football, but the benefits of chopping and changing the front line quite so regularly are hard to see so far.

It was not so long ago that Liverpool fans knew exactly who would be lining up on the left and the right of their attack week in week out, and it is no coincidence that the consistency this gave them led to a period of success for the club.

Every team needs a settled line up, and though it is fine to change players from time to time, it seems to be doing more harm than good where Liverpool’s attack is concerned.

Barcola wants to play on the left, and all the evidence so far suggests that this is his only natural position on the pitch. Having spent so much on him, it is starting to feel bizarre that Iraola is overlooking this simple fact.

Keeping him in his best role will ensure Barcola is able to build up consistency while knowing that he is going to feature in the same position every match. As his form struggles to lift off, chopping and changing cannot be helping him.

Why Barcola is unlikely to get his wish

Part of the problem here is that Liverpool have an abundance of left sided forwards. Having failed to move Cody Gakpo on and sign a replacement in the summer, they do not have a single player who is happiest on the right.

If Barcola locks up the left side, that will leave Gakpo, Ngumoha and Munoz to battle for the right wing slot where neither are most comfortable.

Nevertheless, Ngumoha is beginning to look frightening from the right, while Munoz has played his best football in that position as well. Iraola should seriously think about keeping Barcola and Gakpo as his left wing options and Ngumoha and Munoz on the right.

That way, Liverpool can retain some unpredictability within their forward line, with opposition teams unsure which two of the four players will play, but it will allow the players themselves to feel settled in where they will be playing on the pitch.

A better idea than constantly changing their positions is probably to keep them fairly fluid during matches. Though he wants his wingers to go either way, we have rarely seen them switching in-game. If Barcola starts on the right, he tends to play the full match on the right, for example.

Iraola’s approach is working better with Ngumoha and also with Gakpo, who has shown a surprising ability to swap wings. But it is imperative that Liverpool get more than they currently are out of their £123m signing. Putting him in his best position is an easy fix to get that ball rolling, and after the disappointment of his No. 9 performance in Istanbul, Iraola must implement it straight away.