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There were not too many teams that got the better of Liverpool last season. Nottingham Forest did. Newcastle United did. And Paris Saint-Germain did.
Arne Slot's side lost other games at the end of the season and dropped other points here and there that didn't matter, but it was those three fixtures that he kept coming back to.
In the case of Nottingham Forest, that early defeat, now more than 12 months ago, was enough of a wake-up call about the lesser sides in the Premier League— though Nuno's men didn't end up being that — to stave off any prospect of complacency.
With PSG (Champions League) and Newcastle (League Cup final), it was more a case of needing more squad depth to cope when the season enters its most vital part.
The experience of those weeks almost certainly shaped the decision to put Mohamed Salah on the bench this midweek — a call designed to ensure he is fitter for when the games really matter.
Of course, Liverpool wants to progress in the Champions League in as straightforward a manner as possible, and the team that Slot fielded should have had enough quality in it to cause more problems in Istanbul.
But the reality of the new Champions League group phase is that teams can afford to lose multiple games and still go through. For the bigger sides, it is almost harder to be eliminated in Europe at this stage than finish in the bottom 12.
PSG, a team that Slot has referenced multiple times over the last few months and who became the eventual European champion, finished 15th in last season's league phase. It played Liverpool in the last-16 having already drawn one and lost three matches in the competition at that point.
It should be noted that Liverpool was extremely unlucky to face PSG in the first knockout round having finished top of the standings and that Barcelona, Arsenal and Inter Milan, who came second, third and fourth, all reached the semi-finals.
But the simple fact is that Liverpool doesn't need to win as many games in the league phase as it did last year. As long as it finishes in the top eight, it will avoid the play-off round and then leave the rest up to chance.
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Even a ninth to 24th placed finish would not be the end of the world in most scenarios (PSG, for instance, hammered Brest 10-0 last time around in the last-32 that Liverpool skipped).
When Slot has spoken about admiring PSG's fluid forward line and multiple world-class options in decisive areas, it is that which he wants to replicate at Anfield rather than a lowly finish in the Champions League group phase.
But there are also six more games in which Liverpool can collect points and close the gap to the top of the standings after it already beat Atletico Madrid earlier in the season.
Slot appears to be keen to introduce more rotation into his Liverpool team in the early part of the season this time around, though, and if that means losing a game here or there, it shouldn't ultimately matter. No one shows that more than PSG.
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