What Should We Expect from Liverpool in the Upcoming Season?

Liverpool’s campaign got off to a fairly unconvincing start with their draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on the opening day. Still, the Reds might take a few positives from the encounter – Chelsea, for all of their recent troubles, will present a challenge to many teams this season. Moreover, Liverpool’s squad is in a period of transition, with an almost brand-new midfield in the process of settling in.

Can anyone challenge City?

Over the past few years, Liverpool has been the only team to disrupt the Premier-League monopoly established by Manchester City. City, now under investigation by the FA on multiple counts of financial misconduct, has scooped up three premier league trophies in a row, and seem well positioned to get their hands on a fourth, despite the departure of Ilkay Gundogan and a long term injury to Kevin De Bruyne. Fans of rival teams, including Liverpool, will be hoping that the City juggernaut isn’t quite so unstoppable this time around.

Liverpool title chances

Ahead of Liverpool’s pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich in Singapore this year, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was sceptical about Liverpool’s chances. “Nobody besides maybe City can have the real target to become champions again this year”, he told the press. The target for Liverpool is instead to reclaim their position in the Champions League, having let things slip last year.

Of course, this might well be gamesmanship on the part of a veteran manager. Dismissing the chances of success is, after all, a good way to keep the pressure off his players, and allow them the psychological freedom they need to perform. 

The usual suspects and players to keep an eye on

Many of the most famous names in the Liverpool squad have departed this summer. James Milner has made a switch to Brighton, while Fabinho and Firminio have made moves to clubs in the Saudi Pro League. Goalkeeper Allison and talismanic winger Mohammed Salah have also been targeted by the cash-rich nation, and so we probably can’t rule out further upheaval before the close of the transfer window in September.

The team is reliant on the performances of Salah, without whom their 22-23 season would have been even more disappointing. The Egyptian contributed thirty goals in all competitions. He has reached this benchmark on four occasions out of the last six seasons, and looks set to eclipse Steven Gerrard in the all-time Liverpool scoring charts. It’s for good reason that his is the most popular name to feature on the backs of Liverpool replica kits.

One player to keep an eye on is the much-vaunted seventeen-year-old, Ben Doak, who has sparkled since his arrival last year from Celtic. The chances are good that Klopp will use the Europa League to bl