Alisson heading the ball straight to Matteo Guendouzi near the halfway line before looking to dribble past an opponent and slide-tackling possession straight back to the former Arsenal midfielder provided all the context required for Liverpool chasing the game in the 90th minute. The 34-year-old looked the most past-it footballer on a pitch with a hodge-podge of Premier League Expendables.
How smug we felt when Trey Nyoni scored his first Liverpool goal in the 25th minute as we already planned on penning a love letter to the Ryan Gravenberch-vanquishing conductor at the base of Andoni Iraola’s midfield.
In the space of one first-half minute against Fenerbahce he displayed two of the requirements of a top defensive midfielder. After playing a delightful pass the wrong side of a pressing opponent for Alexis Mac Allister to set Liverpool on their way he then read a Romelu Lukaku pass to snuff out an attack.
The goal – a volley from the edge of the box which took a slight deflection to wrong-foot Ederson – was an added bonus for a hugely talented academy graduate who all-but ended Gravenberch’s Liverpool career in his first Premier League start against Arsenal.
“It’s always difficult for the senior player to ever recover from that,” Jamie Carragher said after Gravenberch was dropped in favour of Nyoni against the Gunners.
“Not that he can’t come back, but Iraola’s saying he’s got more trust in a 19-year-old kid who’s only getting better and his career is going one way. I think that will be a mighty blow for Gravenberch.”
The teenager was perhaps fortunate not to be sent off in the early stages at Anfield for a pair of adrenaline-fueled challenges, but barely put a foot wrong after that, and Liverpool’s hopes faded dramatically when he was removed on the hour mark.
The decision between Nyoni and Gravenberch was taken out of Iraola’s hands for the trip to Istanbul with Gravenberch now out with a heel injury, but we suspect the Reds boss may have been tempted to lean on the Dutch international’s experience at half-time as the Reds were very fortunate to be on level terms.
Mason Greenwood should have been awarded a penalty after a two-handed shove from Kostas Tsimikas before the disgraced former Man Utd forward scored from a free-kick thanks to some pathetic work from Jeremy Jacquet in the Liverpool wall. Alisson was screaming at the timid centre-back even before the ball bobbled past him to draw the scores level.
Irfan Can Kahveci also hit the bar for the hosts and Greenwood stung the palms of Alisson as N’Golo Kante continued to be very N’Golo Kante in midfield for Fenerbahce, breaking up play and dribbling through what looked to be rather a soft centre which Nyoni was expected to be patrolling.
Bradley Barcola endured another tough evening, watching Rio Ngumoha and Victor Munoz enjoy themselves on the wings while the £123m-man got swallowed up by the Fenerbahce defenders in the centre-forward position.
Iraola was all smiles on the touchline as Cody Gakpo immediately set Alexander Isak up to put Liverpool back in front after they were both introduced from the bench, before the Reds contrived to throw the game away thanks to some comically sleepy work at the back.
Kante had way too much space on the edge of the box to deliver a cross following a short corner, which Gakpo flicked over his own goalkeeper for Archie Brown to tap in at the back post while Dominik Szoboszlai stood and gesticulated.
Hard to know who was to blame in that Gakpo-Alisson double act, but though Jacquet “didn’t cover himself in glory” for the Fenerbahce winner, Alisson must all-too belatedly hold his hands up after the ball hung in the air for what felt like a good minute from Brown’s cross before Vedat Muriqi nodded the ball into the corner of the Brazilian’s net.
He was culpable for the Liverpool defeat, but it’s not like the collective performance of the rest of the team merited victory, nor the individual displays, as even Nyoni – impressive though he was – was trumped by a man nearly twice in his age in the indefatigable N’Golo Kante.