Football Is Passion

If you were to choose one word to sum up Liverpool’s approach to the new Premier League season, it would be ‘undercooked’.

With six permanent departures from Anfield this summer, Jurgen Klopp’s side have lost a staggering 1,776 worth of Premier League appearances.

Five of those were outgoing midfielders, with only two signings coming through the door to replace him and the club were ’embarrassed’ by Jamie Carragher to sign a replacement No.6 in Romeo Lavia from Championship club Southampton. Labeled it.

And new captain Virgil van Dijk after long-serving Jordan Henderson controversially left for Saudi Arabia.

He says Liverpool fans’ concerns going into the new season are the defensive frailties shown in pre-season and the absence of ‘big characters’ at the club.

Asked if the fans’ uncertainty was legitimate, Van Dijk said: ‘Yes, I can certainly understand that. I’m not a very negative person, so obviously I don’t think like that.

Let’s see if more players come in, and then we have to prepare again for a long season. It will be very difficult looking at the teams around us, but we want to be there again, we want to be challenging.

So can Liverpool Liverpool defender bid and challenge for the title? It seems club boss Klopp enters the new campaign with more questions than answers, Although they look sharper than this time last year, I particularly surround the makeshift for midfield player and the Trent Alexander-Arnold conundrum.

Liverpool Players Who left This Season:

With our former players Henderson, and Fabinho who move to Al Ahli, Like James Milner, Keita, and Oxlade-Chamberlain no longer at the club for this season, The Liverpool boss is scratching his head as to who will start in the holding midfield role. In the pre-season, Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, and Alexis Mac Allister have all featured there.

Each of them have redeeming qualities but not enough for a team serious about title charges. Alexander-Arnold started in midfield while Conor Bradley played on the right during the friendlies in Germany, but the Northern Irishman, 20, is now injured.

So whether Jones or McAllister have played there, and the tactical discipline of Nathan Ake or Manu Akanji, who were willing to stay back and form a back three.

Instead, with Alexander-Arnold in midfield, Liverpool are unsure whether Andy Robertson should continue on the left or go forward.

And as strange as it may sound, Liverpool’s success this season will depend on signing a 19-year-old from a second-tier club.

To address the open back line, Klopp held a lengthy video session on Sunday, which was said to be ‘clear and direct’.

We try to put pressure on the opposition, not just the midfield or the strikers or just the defenders,” Van Dijk added. “If they’re under pressure, they can’t play the ball back as easily.

There have been some characters, players who have played a big part in the success… but others have to move on. This is a great challenge. We should be excited. I’m very excited, so let’s see.’

In terms of Liverpool’s attack, there are reasons to be upbeat and happy – Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota have enjoyed pre-seasons, while 17-year-old Scotsman Ben Doke has been a shining light – but the pitch in the defensive half, there are reasons to panic.