Liverpool supporters watched what was arguably the worst performance of the Andoni Iraola era so far as they succumbed to a desperately disappointing defeat against Fenerbahce in Istanbul.

Iraola understandably rotated for the fourth Champions League match of the campaign, notably dropping Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz to the bench.

Barcola is not a central striker

When the team news came out, it was not a huge surprise to see Isak in particular dropped to the bench. The striker needs protecting as much as possible until Hugo Ekitike is ready to return in the new year.

There was some excitement at seeing Barcola through the middle, with the 24-year-old having occasionally impressed centrally for Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain.

But Barcola was dreadful against Fenerbahce. Struggling to make the right movements for his teammates to find him, and unable to find any space to utilise his speed, the No. 29 completely faded out of the game.

Both Victor Munoz and Rio Ngumoha were doing some good work either side of him, but at times it felt as though they simply had no support through the middle of the pitch.

Munoz has played more as a centre-forward than Barcola, and with Lewis Koumas showing himself to be not of the required quality, the Spaniard would surely have been a better option for Iraola. It was worth a go, but it is clear on just one performance that Barcola is not a centre-forward.

Szoboszlai cannot replace Wirtz

Throughout Wirtz’s difficulties with Liverpool, there have been suggestions that Szoboszlai would be a better performer in the position behind the forward line.

Whether that is true or not is a tough question to answer, because the Hungarian simply will not stay in the position when given the chance.

Iraola may have had different instructions for Szoboszlai, but he absolutely did not play as a No. 10 on Wednesday evening.

The 26-year-old was more often found in an inside pocket on the right-hand side, leaving Liverpool without any kind of focal point in the attacking midfield position.

Szoboszlai has his qualities, and there will be some who think he has to be in the team no matter what. But the Hungary captain has been struggling in a double pivot in midfield, and, on this evidence, absolutely is not the creative, forward-thinking No. 10 Liverpool need.

Wirtz may not be perfect, but he has often served up far better than whatever this was from Szoboszlai.

Iraola is still tinkering, and it is early days so that should be encouraged, but he needs to nail down his back-up striker with a player who is not Barcola or Koumas. And he needs to make sure that when Wirtz does not play, there is a clear plan on how Liverpool are to create. This was not it.