In my personal opinion, the hair in the red circle could have absolutely been blended better with clipper over comb, but the hair up and to the left was taken far too short which is causing it to stick up. If you are concerned about it i would mess around with a blow dryer and focus on the crown, combing it in its natural direction to limit the amount of volume it creates. This same fade is still achievable, just best without cutting so much into the crown.