In analyzing the prospects of the upcoming Liverpool FC season, you got to start by looking at their phenomenal summer transfer window. They have spent £179 million on new players acquired this summer, and the expectations are now nothing short of ending the 28 year long Premier League title drought.
Well, closing the deal in the UEFA Champions League would suffice too, and it’s very realistic as the Reds are a side built for that kind of competition, and the team that beat them in the final this past May is now without their best player.
Reasons for Liverpool FC supporters to be Optimistic:
In successive transfer windows Anfield has broken the world transfer fee record for both a goalkeeper and a defender. The back line is no longer a provider of punchlines/weakest link. The nightmares of Loris Karius in the UCL Final aren’t of concern anymore with Alisson now on board.
The high-flying, fun to watch attacking fab three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino are all back, and LFC perfectly adjusted to the sale of Philippe Coutinho. Their actions since have said, with authority, they are not a selling club; at all.
Reasons for Liverpool fans to be Pessimistic:
Some LOLiverpool performances will happen this season, it’s just a question of how many and how severe it could get. Until they win major silverware again, the “great against best, terrible against the worst” stigma will persist.
A lot of Reds supporters are infamously paranoid about blown leads in games, and that’s understandable given how many times we’ve seen the Reds give away leads in big games in recent years. Maybe that changes with this new and improved roster.
They are yet to win a trophy under Jurgen Klopp, and must get that monkey off their backs at some point.
Summer Transfer Window/Offseason Analysis:
Winner, winner Chicken dinner. When the manager of greatest rival, Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho goes out of his way to complain about it, on more than one occasion, despite the fact that he has plenty of other issues to gripe about, it’s the biggest compliment you can receive.
Liverpool FC Players to Watch:
The aforementioned Salah (Ballon d’Or level, after his individual award haul/record breaking 2017-18 season), Mane and Firmino (if you want to fun to watch football, this is your club and these guys make it so), Alisson (for obvious reasons) and of course Virgil van Dijk (the world’s most expensive defender)
The Merseyside club is certainly the best collection of Southampton and AS Roma alums you’ll ever find.
League Title Odds According to Betway: 4/1 second most favorable behind only reigning champions City.
It all Kicks Off: when they host West Ham on Sunday
Bottom Line Outlook/Prediction: Second
City are coming off a record breaking season, and have the pretty much the same roster in place. That’s going to be very difficult to leapfrog. If anyone can do it though, it’s Liverpool, as they showed everyone in the league, the blue print for how to beat them last season. Now we’ll see what kind of adjustments Pep Guardiola has made since the memorable UCL quarterfinal tie.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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