It was a tumultuous – and traumatic season – to Liverpool, the reigning champions having to reconcile with the death of Diogo Jota.
The loss of the Portugal striker will be felt for a while and naturally project a shadow on the defense by the club of the Premier League crown that they won so impressively last season.
He asks a large number of players to still cry the loss of their friend to find the motivation to repeat the successes of last year when the game must seem trivial.
The performance of the pre-season has been mixed, perhaps due to confused mind and perhaps due to the number of new faces brought by the Boss Arne Slot.
The Dutchman was ruthless to reshape his team, showing little feeling to Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Jarell Quansah, who all played a role last season.
The departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold for Real Madrid was inevitable given the player’s wish to challenge himself in Spain.
So what about Liverpool’s new signatures?
While Jamie Carragher escaped last week, the approach of the Reds on the market seems a little confused.
Alexander Isak of Newcastle is clearly a target and with the desperate player for the move, it seems inevitable that the Swedish ends the transfer window as a Liverpool player.
If this is the case, the signature of Hugo Ekitike for a first £ 69 million pounds would stern an extravagance with the money better spent for the solidification of a defense which seemed uncertain in pre-season. Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez are beautiful players and will settle in time, but the question marks continue to turn around the Virgil Van Dijk, previously imperative.
If Isak moves to the Merseyside, this could mean that Liverpool broke the British transfer record twice in a window after capturing Florian Wirtz for costs that could reach 116 million pounds Sterling.
The German international will prosperate in the Liverpool possession team and provide the creative spark which can only bring the usual return of the prolific Mohamed Salah.
What could change others this season?
As a good player as Wirtz, his arrival can cause a slight tactically adjustment.
In Slot 4-2-3-1 training last season, Dominik Szobozslai was often the highest attacker, flowing beyond the defense of the opposition, in part to create space behind him for Salah.
It is unlikely that Wirtz will do it, perhaps putting the accent on Ekitike more, assuming that it begins the season in the role of the new number, to play in front of the objective and to refrain from coming in depth.
Having two new backs is another interesting dynamic. And while Kerkez is almost a clone of Andy Robertson with his bombings in the left side, Frimpong is not similar at Alexander-Arnold.
The man in England used to derive in the midfield, allowing him to display his fleeting variety, and did not overlap with the occasion Salah. Frimpong will not do that. In Bayer Leverkusen, he came down and drew crosses, unlike Alexander-Arnold, whose deliveries came regularly from further away.
It may well be their attack statistics at the end of the season, but they will be carried out in different ways.
Where will they end?
Liverpool is overwhelming favorites to go back to back and it is not difficult to understand why. They brought the good players and Slot’s appetite for success will not be full last season.
But the competition will be stronger this year. Arsenal finally signed a new number, the triumph of the Chelsea World Cup shows that they will be a threat when it is difficult to imagine that Manchester City will be as mediocre as in 2024-25.
We believe that the mental work of the last months, added to the small tactical adjustments which could take some time to implement, can mean that Liverpool is not as dominant as many predict it.
It should be a fascinating title race this year and do not be surprised if Liverpool is not enough.
