Andoni Iraola was right about taking a calculated Champions League selection gamble, but a fresh Liverpool worry is emerging for the Reds boss early on during his tenure

Given that Liverpool was already sitting on nine points in the Champions League, there is no doubt that the weekend's trip to Crystal Palace was the bigger priority.

And, as a result, it was the right call from Andoni Iraola to put Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, among others, on the bench against Fenerbahce. The Reds had earned that margin for error, and unfortunately then had to use it.

The reality is, as much as Iraola was frustrated by how Liverpool performed in Turkiye and his changes had a detrimental short-term impact, they are with the bigger picture in mind.

Last year, teams needed 10 points to avoid being knocked out in the league phase. The lowest-placed side to avoid the play-off round required 16.

With matches against Club Brugge, Porto, Inter Milan and Lens remaining, Liverpool should still have no problems getting into the position that it wants to be. Regardless, though, Iraola will have spotted some things to address.

Last season, Liverpool really struggled with defending from set pieces, with Arne Slot's side falling foul of the same issues week after week, while failing to look threatening from their own.

When set-piece coach Aaron Briggs was fired in December 2025, the Reds had let in 12 from dead balls; the highest of anyone in Europe's top five leagues at the time. So far this season, that has not been an issue — but that changed here.

"The main reason I can find to lose the game is we conceded [from] three set-pieces," Iraola admitted in his post-Fenerbahce press conference.

"It's something that we were doing very well in the league. I think we were dealing [with it] quite well until today. We knew it was one of the strengths of Fenerbahce, but we concede from a free kick, from a corner, and even from the long throw at the end.

"They are goals that have hurt us because we have twice gone in front after having good moments, controlling the game, arriving. We found the goals. But after, we conceded in situations that we definitely should defend better."

On this occasion, Jeremy Jacquet was uncharacteristically all over the place at the back, while Kostas Tsimikas was fortunate not to be sent off for a fairly blatant shove on Mason Greenwood that would also have yielded a penalty.

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And there was also another worrying performance from Alisson Becker, too. The Brazilian got away with a poor error against Brighton when Yasin Ayari missed, and then repeated the mistake a week later when Arsenal pounced.

This time, it wasn't his distribution that was the problem, but his judgment from crosses. He was caught out for Archie Brown's leveler and then could have saved from Vedat Muriqi for the Fenerbahce winner.

Expected goals stats are not always a fair reflection, but Alisson let in three goals from 1.75, even if he could do nothing with Greenwood's free kick that deflected past him.

While the defeat itself didn't matter, then, Liverpool still came away with plenty to ponder. It will need to learn those lessons quickly to ensure it stays on track.