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Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola has suggested the thunderous atmosphere inside Fenerbahçe's Chobani Stadium played a role in his team's disappointing 3–2 loss to the Turkish club on Wednesday.
On an evening marked by scrappy goals, Liverpool were undone by three set-piece situations. Mason Greenwood's deflected free kick caught Alisson off guard in the first half, before a breakdown in communication between the goalkeeper and Cody Gakpo gifted Fenerbahçe their second equalizer of the match. Sloppy defending from a throw-in just moments later allowed Vedat Muriqi to grab the decisive winner.
"They are cheap goals," Iraola said. "They are messy goals. It's a free kick, it's quite far also, the free kick.
"You know, it is through the wall, [they are] mistakes that can cost you. The last goal ... it is a long throw, the first phase is control, but after a very long ball and Muriqi wins it."
When pressed on the poor quality of the goals conceded, Iraola attributed it to his players' inability to communicate amid the deafening noise inside the Chobani Stadium.
"The second [goal] is ... I think Cody is the one touching the ball just in front of Ali," Iraola recalled. "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.
"It was, I suppose, difficult there, the communication between Ali and Cody."
Defensive Lapses Cost Liverpool on Frustrating Night
Following a run of five consecutive wins, Liverpool have now suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time during Iraola's tenure.
While there was little to dispute about the 1–0 loss to Arsenal the previous weekend — in which Liverpool failed to register a single shot on target — Iraola was visibly frustrated by the self-inflicted nature of his side's latest stumble.
"It's frustration, because it's a difficult place to come here and to play and we were for the most part of the game thinking, 'O.K., we can win this one.'" Iraola said. "But obviously it hasn't happened.
"We have conceded, especially the first goal and the third goal—the second one is a rebound—but the wall, I don't think we set it properly and the last one, Muriqi jumps and wins the ball against three of our defenders. It's something that definitely we have to defend better."
He added: "It's situations that we've been dealing [with] well until today.
"It's something that we were very aware of in preseason. We've reinforced a lot the defensive set-play situation. We are doing very well in the league but today it has cost us. We know they are strong there, especially with Muriqi, with [Romelu] Lukaku, with the center backs, but maybe the last goal is the only one that is because they are strong in there, they are tall. The others are situations that we have to control better."
A visit to Crystal Palace on Sunday, Nov. 8, will give Liverpool an ideal chance to bounce back immediately and potentially push their way back into the Premier League's top four.