Liverpool slumped to their second consecutive loss across all competitions with a 3-2 loss at Fenerbache in the Champions League in what was a performance consistent with their recurring theme of struggling against Turkish opposition away from home.
Despite having taken the lead through Trey Nyoni in the 25th minute via a fortuitously deflected volley effort, the Reds conceded shortly thereafter through a deflected free kick from Mason Greenwood. After Andoni Iraola started to bring on the big guns in the second half a la Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak, and Cody Gakpo, the latter two combined to great effect to give the Reds a 2-1 lead just moments after entering the pitch. However, despite periods of control in the second half, the visitors capitulated and conceded two cheap goals in the 73rd and 79th minute to Archie Brown and Vedat Muriqi, respectively.
What makes it harder to digest for Liverpool is the nature of the two second half goals they conceded in addition to yet again conceding three goals to a Champions League opponent - they gave up three to Villarreal, LASK, and now Fenerbache.
For Brown's goal, there seemed to be a lack of communication between Gakpo and Alisson Becker, as Gakpo's attempted headed clearance fell right to Brown at the far post for an easy tap in. For Muriqi's goal, the lobbed cross seemed to stay in the air for quite some time before it fell to the head of the Kosovar international as Alisson retreated into his goal instead of going for a punch clear.
Muriqi's goal has left question marks around Alisson's positioning and his lack of an effort to go and punch clear, which BBC Sport Match of the Day pundits Ally McCoist and Stephen Warnock were rather critical of.
McCoist, Warnock Not Impressed With Alisson
While the overall performance is hardly to blame on the Brazil international, the isolated incident for Muriqi's goal does highlight what was a poor bit of decision making from the keeper. The cross having been in the air for as long as it was gave him plenty of time to get in a position to either collect or punch clear, granted it was a congested penalty area. All of Virgil van Dijk, Alexis Mac Allister, Trey Nyoni, and Jeremy Jacquet were in the vicinity, but that's Alisson's territory to claim.
"Brilliant header. When the ball comes in, I just think it's in the air for a very long time, and I'm thinking, where is Alisson? The goalkeeper has to come for that," Ally McCoist ranted during BBC's Match of The Day coverage.
"That was the softest goal yet. There is no physical challenge by a Liverpool player when the ball came in - they were far too weak - and why is Alisson not coming out to claim it," Stephen Warnock added.
Iraola Has Some Sorting To Do
With the nature of the second and third goals that Liverpool conceded to Fenerbache, it's clear that there was some sort of communication issue between Alisson, his defenders, and for Archie Brown's goal, Gakpo.
It's certainly not the first match where Alisson has been guilty of not fully committing to either coming off of his line, or choosing not to do so. Two of the goals Liverpool gave up to Villarreal in the 4-3 win a few weeks ago resulted from similar types of errors; the first a miscommunication between van Dijk and Alisson with the former's misjudged header falling right to Georges Mikautadze and the second a situation where Alisson hesitated to fully come off of his line before Sergi Cardona slotted right past him.
In the recent 1-0 loss to Arsenal, it was also a poor pass out of the back that led to Kai Havertz's goal that won the Gunners the match and ultimately wound up costing Liverpool on an evening where they at the wrong end of some questionable refereeing decisions. A loose ball to Jacquet made it easy for Martin Odegaard to pounce on and start the sequence that led to the Havertz goal - a completely avoidable situation from Liverpool's point of view and something Iraola will have to sort out.
Making mistakes like that can make a massive difference over the course of the season, and while Alisson is still one of the best shot stoppers in the world, his decision making and communication with his back line certainly seems like it could use some revamping.
