Champions League · Fenerbahçe - Liverpool · Wed, 4 Nov, 18:45
Fenerbahçevs
LiverpoolFenerbahçe beat Liverpool 3-2 in the Champions League
A side that had lost 3 of its last 5 beat a team unbeaten in its first 3 league-phase games. Liverpool leave with back-to-back defeats.
Fenerbahçe 3, Liverpool 2. On paper, that is an upset. Even after the result, the table has Fenerbahçe 19th and Liverpool 8th, and the recent form points the same way.
The hosts came in battered. In their last 5 games, across the Süper Lig and the Champions League, they had won 1, drawn 1 and lost 3. They had scored 7 and conceded 12 in that run. The two most recent defeats were both in the league: 2-1 away at Galatasaray, then 2-1 at home to Göztepe on 31 October.
The Champions League side of that run was worse still. Fenerbahçe lost 6-0 at Aston Villa on 14 October. They then drew 2-2 at home to Slavia Praha. Beating Liverpool was a very different kind of night.
What changes in the table
After this result, Fenerbahçe sit 19th out of 36 with 5 points from 4 games: 1 win, 2 draws and 1 defeat. The win over Liverpool is their first of the league phase. They have scored 6 and conceded 11, so the defence remains a problem even in victory.
Liverpool are 8th with 9 points from 4 games. They have won 3 and lost 1, with 14 goals scored and 10 conceded. This defeat is the one on that record, so they arrived in Istanbul with 3 wins from 3.
Liverpool's slide
This is the part that should worry them. Before this game, Liverpool lost 1-0 at home to Arsenal in the Premier League on 1 November. That makes two defeats in a row.
Their last 5 games before this one, across the Premier League, League Cup and Champions League, read 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat. They scored 9 and conceded 6. Within that run sit a 2-0 win over Brighton, a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the League Cup and a 4-3 win over Villarreal in the Champions League.
That Villarreal game is a clue. Liverpool conceded 3 there and conceded 3 here. The difference was that on 20 October they scored 4 to cover it.
The home attack
Fenerbahçe's best scorers are M. Greenwood and Talisca, with 4 goals each. Greenwood also has 2 assists.
What to watch next
Liverpool are still 8th, so the damage is to momentum, not yet to position. The question is whether a defence that has conceded 10 in 4 Champions League games can stop leaking. For Fenerbahçe, the question is whether one good night can steady a side that had lost 3 of its last 5 before it.
