Liverpool may have been perfect in terms of points in the Champions League this season before Wednesday’s defeat against Fenerbahce, but the numbers told a different story even before Vedat Muriqi headed home to hand them a 3-2 loss at Sukru Saracoglu stadium.

In reality, conceding three times each to LASK, Villarreal and now Fenerbahce has not been good enough from Andoni Iraola’s side, and the facts are that the Reds have conceded 10 Champions League goals in just four matches.

Liverpool fans concerned by defensive record

Although Wednesday was a chastening result and a really poor performance from Liverpool, their three wins from three in the Champions League so far have still put them in a good position to qualify. In fact, despite the loss, the Reds are still currently inside the top eight, meaning they would qualify automatically for the last-16.

Nevertheless, it will not stay that way for long if they continue to neglect their defensive duties. 10 goals conceded is easily worse than any other team joining them in the top eight, with the next worst (Manchester City and Real Madrid) having let in seven goals.

Arsenal, inevitably, have the best defensive record, shipping only three times, and if Liverpool are to close the gap to the Premier League champions, then they need to get much closer to that number.

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david.comerford

Easily one of the worst CL viewing experiences I can remember that. Eight goals conceded against LASK, Villarreal and Fenerbahce. Unserious. Last two games have been a big reality check

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Other likely challengers Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich have conceded five apiece from tougher games than Liverpool have had, while Barcelona have let in six, four of which were against PSG.

In their current form, the Reds will be no match for any of those sides, who could blow them away with their firepower.

Liverpool must wise up at the back

Quite why Liverpool are so open is a difficult question to ask, made more complicated by the fact that they have largely been better in the Premier League.

They registered three consecutive clean sheets in the division in September, and their record of nine goals conceded is bettered only by Leeds, Brighton and Arsenal.

One explanation is that Iraola has been rotating at times defensively in Europe, and he continued that by swapping both full-backs against Fenerbahce. Joe Gomez had a good game, but Kostas Tsimikas certainly did not. Throw in Jeremy Jacquet having his worst game for Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk struggling to hold it all together and Alisson failing on some basic goalkeeping, and you’ve got a perfect storm.

With so many games piled up, Iraola knows he will have to rotate even more in the coming four matches, but he also can rightly demand better from both Alisson and Van Dijk, who have to be at the forefront of any defensive revival.

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shamanth.jayaram

That’s now 10 goals conceded in 4 CL games – just 5 of the other 35 teams have a worse record. Not good enough!

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Prior to the rest of Wednesday’s later fixtures, only five teams had conceded more than Liverpool in this season’s Champions League. That number now stands at eight, but it still puts Liverpool 28th in the long table. Far from good enough.

There have been a whole host of issues for Iraola to address in various parts of his squad during the early part of his reign at Anfield. But when it comes to the Champions League, his first priority should be making sure Liverpool keep a clean sheet on matchday five when they travel to Club Brugge.

In fairness to Iraola and the Reds, only PSG and Como, who hit nine against Lens on Wednesday, have scored more than them in the competition so far, so they are doing something right.

But when it comes to letting them in at the other end, few teams are as soft a touch as Liverpool. To concede so many against perceivably weak opposition is alarming, and if it is a sign of things to come in the coming two months, then the Reds will have a job on making it out of the group at all.