Liverpool title expectations quashed as new signing 'unbalances' champions

Liverpool fans are united in saying that actually, they should not be Premier League title favourites. It’s that time of year…

Send your predictions about the title race to theeditor@football365.com

Downplaying those Liverpool expectations

The general consensus among the pundits is that Liverpool will romp away with the title and it is a battle for second place. I don’t think I am constructing a straw man here, this seems pretty universal. The idea is that Liverpool walked the title last year and have spent all the money this year so will only be better.

However, this just isn’t the case is it? Liverpool look like they have spent all the money because they spent it early, but have they really strengthened?

(They literally have spent all the money – Ed)

As far as I see it the only actual addition is Wirtz. Frimpong is replacing Alexander-Arnold, Kerkez is replacing Robertson and Ekitike is replacing Nunez, Diaz and Jota (sorry, but it has to be mentioned at some point). There is no way that Frimpong and Kerkez can be considered nailed on as upgrades and Ekitike is covering three players. The only other addition is a reserve keeper and Liverpool already had a brilliant one of those in Kelleher. Oh, and they have sold Quansah with no replacement (yet).

So, Liverpool have lost Diaz, Nunez, Quansah, Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold and Jota and replaced them with Wirtz, Ekitike, Kerkez, Frimpong and Mamardashvilli. I don’t see how this makes them favourites.

Arsenal finished second last season and have added Zubimendi, Gyokeres, Madueke, Mosquera, Kepa and Norgaard while only losing Partey. City won four in a row before last season and have added Reijnders, Ait-Nouri, Cherki and Trafford to the returning Rodri and their £200m worth of January signings while only losing De Bruyne. Chelsea have spent just £15m less than Liverpool and are literally the best team in the world.

Even United’s net spend is two and a half times Liverpool’s.

Liverpool should finish top four, sure. But favourites for the league? Not for me Clive.

Micki (cup half empty because it has a hole in the base) Attridge

…First and foremost congratulations to Palace, great game, very well deserved!

Onto Liverpool – obviously we don’t know the internal details of the transfer policy and targets, but there have been few things so obvious since the beginning of last season, so I don’t really understand why are now postponed.

Main target last year was Zubimendi – very clear why. With him declining the offer Gravenberch was introduced as a defensive midfielder and was hailed as revelation (which he was), but he was also so overused. Not sure if anyone remembers but the reality is that as of end of Feb/ beginning of March we were actually quite poor, and due to using same players in all four competitions our midfield was barely walking and overrun in quite a few games.

What I miss to understand is why this was not addressed this summer, since it was already an issue tried to be addressed last year. Seems Slot is moving Szoboszlai back next to Gravenberch, but this might work only in certain situations and when both are avail. I imagine they will try to promote Nyoni to the first team so let’s see how this works.

The other main issue is obviously central defence. With all the respect and love Van Dijk is getting slower, and this was also visible the whole second part of last season. We sold Quansah, which is mistake in my eyes. While he seems to be valued high for me Konate is error prone, especially with high balls – on a few occasions last season the ball bounces in front of him and then jumps him over, goes behind and suddenly from a possible normal clearance situation we have a potential goal situation for the other team. Honestly, if Real comes calling and we have a replacement lined up, I will drive him to Madrid myself.

With all the new guys coming in the team we will need time thing to gel and get smooth, so I don’t count ourselves challenging this year. Anyway, let’s see…

M, Liverpool, Barcelona

READ: Arteta sacked, Liverpool flop, Chelsea win the league: knee-jerk 25/26 predictions based on pre-season

Why have Liverpool unbalanced things with Wirtz?

There is a lot of talk about Liverpool needing new centre backs etc. That might be true but it will not solve their current defensive issues if they don’t get into the lineup or only replace another defender.

Their issue is the change of formation which I frankly don’t understand. Wirtz played mostly as the second most advanced player in the Leverkusen side last season. Him replacing either a defensive midfielder or advanced midfielder who is doing pressing for two will obviously lead to defensive issues. Add to that attacking wing backs (again Frimpong played either as a wing back in 352 or even as right midfielder, never as a fullback in back four), Salah who will not contribute that much defensively and that team is very unbalanced.

I will never understand why Liverpool unbalanced the team so much with Wirtz in midfield right after supposedly finding the winning formula last season.

Jan, Prague

Ekitike is Darwin Nunez

So…. My two conclusions from the Charidee Shield

As I wrote in a month ago – We still need a centre back – No shock to anyone.

New young much hyped and anticipated striker scores goal in Charity Shield

New Young striker misses 2 other cracking chances

Looks very promising indeed

Good link up play a seeming understanding with other players.

That striker was Darwin Nunez v Man City in 2022…

As Coisty called him, Ekky Tekky, (which isn’t a palindrome..) looked a lot like Darwin in the opener for me.

And that’s more worrying than the centre back issue… and boy did we look toothless when he came off. That’s even more worrying again.

Al – LFC – Normally quite optimistic but football fandom changes a person…

Isak behaviour is ridiculous

The behaviour of players when seeking transfers is bordering on the absurd. Why would grown-ups throw tantrums when a bigger club comes calling? Upon signing contracts, they knew what they were doing. While changing clubs during the contract duration is possible, the way some have gone about is is unacceptable.

Why embarrass your parent club? Why burn all the bridges? I am not happy with Alexander Isak’s behaviour at Newcastle. He could have raised all issues before the transfer window opened. Having seen Liverpool acquire Ekitike and Arsenal, Gyokeres, he wakes up and decides he wants a move and will never play for Newcastle again! I am glad with the stand Newcastle has taken, even if the boy with brittle legs is not worth £150 million.

Carey (clubs must stand up to bullies) Yiembe, Mombasa, Kenya

Some reasons for Man Utd optimism

There I was having a fairly serene summer, nobody really cared about what Man United were doing or likely to do and the mailbox was awash with Scousers and Geordies arguing about expensive Swedes. Then ‘the chosen one’ drops a delightful mail of unabashed fantasy and triggers a flood of letters pointing out, quite accurately, why United are still rather shit. He even invoked that one resentful United fan who should really be a Leverkusen fan at this point so, good job buddy, what a way to ruin the peace.

I can’t bring myself to be angry with or even ridicule Mustafa. He saw a bit of nice play in preseason, mixed it with £200m in new signings, infused with a bit of Amorim lore, and got all caught up in a fevered hallucination of desperate hope. I’ve been there, football can make us do funny things.

I do think there are reasons to be optimistic as a Man United fan though. As well as the players appearing far leaner and fitter the team does look more comfortable in Amorim’s system even without the new signings though you can instantly see the difference both Cunha and Mbeumo make. It will be interesting to see how they fare but I’m not expecting too much, not serving up weekly doses of embarrassing despair would be a welcome improvement.

I’ve been reasonably happy with how the club have conducted its business this summer which makes a nice change. The ‘only one deal at a time’ process has been mocked by some and frustrated many but to me it shows a measure of control and patience that United have lacked for far too long. Waiting to bid for Sesko until the player made a commitment then bidding lower than Newcastle is a miraculous event in the context of our usual transfer style. Only because of this would I increase the chance that Baleba signs to above 0%, even then perhaps only to 1%.

The opening fixtures don’t look particularly kind but playing the likes of Chelsea, Spurs, Forest, and Palace in weeks where they have European games will certainly help to some degree. If we can get into the second international break with 12-13pts I’d be very happy, then around 30pts by Christmas would indicate a real positive shift and possibly a bright future under Amorim.

Dave, Manchester

Defining world class

I applaud Jason Soutar’s recent article about world-class players in the Premier League as it’s the perfect topic to generate debate (which of course Football365 is always trying to stimulate). However presenting my own list and trying to justify it is a bit like justifying who as the prettiest wife. Instead I’d like to propose some general ground rules for comparison. Now before you pedants jump in with 101 exceptions, all I am trying to do is come up with a common framework to avoid the “out there” nominations (Isak, after one season?). So here goes:

World Class – this is a player who could walk into any CURRENT club or national team. I stipulate current because it’s pointless and another conversation to discuss whether, say, VVD would get into the Italian National team of the 80/90s, but currently he would be a shoe in for any club or national side. Ditto Haaland, Salah, Rodri. Even, as a MUFC supporter, I think Fernandes is a stretch.

International Class – I think this category needs to be introduced to avoid a whole bunch of people being jerry rigged into the above category. These are players who could walk into many of the top International teams but not all. Using this criteria, Rice and Saka are great players for English yet do they walk into the France or Argentina national side?

No doubt someone will then cite that Haaland would not replace Mbappe in the France national team but that isn’t the point. Is he good enough to get into the France national team? And the answer is yes.

In a world where everyone gets a medal for simply participating, I think the term “World Class” will go the way of American sports (e.g. “World Series”). And to consider Palmer, Rice, Saka, Isak, etc. as a similar level to Ronaldo, Messi, Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic, is quite honestly ludicrous.

Given this new criteria, citing World Class players who have EVER player in the English Premier League becomes a much smaller, and more realistic, list as well.

Adidasmufc

(We bought a 6′ 5″ striker and no one to cross the ball into the box!)

Fun times

Excited for the return of the football and a little let down at the shootout results yesterday (well done Palace), I was watching old football YouTube and stumbled across the genius Scottish commentary for the original Panenka.

Holy sh*t what a tour de force.

I never knew that, in possibly the most stereotypically Czech thing imaginable, Antonín Panenka does a quick mouthwash routine with a Pilsner Urquel beer before going up to take his shot.

This commentator was brilliant:

Ian, LFC Hartford, CT USA

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