Liverpool were arguably the
overachievers of the league last season, almost winning the league and making a
massive leap from 7th to 2nd place, a remarkable feat.
This season however could be a completely different story, losing Luis Suarez
to the appeal of Barcelona and the expectation and pressure now inflicted on
Liverpool could be too much. Liverpool are known for not bottling it when it
comes to the toughest points (one exception was of course last season when the
league slipped out of Liverpool’s hands, literally) and Liverpool could be ok
this season if they are wise enough.
Transfers
Last year Liverpool had a
shocking transfer window. Other than getting £15.5million for injury-prone
striker Andy Carroll and £5million for Jonjo Shelvey Liverpool flopped in the
transfer market. They signed Iago Aspas, who is arguably one of the worst
strikers to grace the Premier League, Tiago Ilori, a colossal waste of money as
he ended up not making a single appearance and having an unsuccessful loan
spell at Granada. Add this to the fact they signed Kolo Toure and Luis Alberto,
both who failed to make an impression and both of them will find themselves out
of the Liverpool side this season (the latter is on loan at Malaga). However,
they did make two ok signings in Simon Mignolet and Sakho. Those two players
were key to Liverpool’s season and despite getting injured, Sakho did put in a
string of good performances towards the end of the campaign.
This season has been a strange
window for Liverpool. They sold their best player Luis Suarez and have thus far
failed to replace him but have definitely strengthened their squad by signing
players such as Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Emre Can. Those
players may not start every game for Liverpool but are virtually guaranteed
some game time with the pressure of Champions League football, and all of them
will want to make their mark on a Liverpool side that is looking good and earn
themselves a starting place. The signing of Lazar Markovic is also a good one
as he is a young, fast attacking midfielder who could end up one of Europe’s
biggest talents.
Predicted Line-up
Liverpool have a good squad but
a poor defence. Mignolet may be a good keeper but Liverpool could become
over-reliant on the Belgian as defenders like Glen Johnson now have a
repertoire of poor performances to their name. Their midfield however is good,
mixing experience with youth and quality. I thoroughly expect Liverpool to do
well this season and they could even finish 2nd or 1st.
Squad Depth
Liverpool have fairly decent
squad depth. With a fantastic goalkeeper in Pepe Reina, decent defenders in
Daniel Agger and Sakho, good midfielders in Can and Leiva but poor forward
options in Rickie Lambert. I do expect this squad depth to be good for them
though as they will most likely only need a select few from this list and the
ones they do use will fit into the squad well and hopefully help Liverpool.
Final Predicted Finish: 4th.
Although the quality of this
Liverpool squad is undeniable, I just don’t think they can finish where they
did last season. I think that the Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City sides
are just about better than Liverpool and this could result in Liverpool
scraping into the Champions League places but nevertheless qualifying,
something a team like Tottenham would be more than happy to do.
Predicted Key Player: Daniel
Sturridge.
As you can see, I’m back into
the habit of putting strikers as predicted key players, but it’s true,
Sturridge will be crucial to Liverpool this season. Providing he stays fit,
Sturridge will no doubt provide the goals needed to rocket Liverpool into the
Champions League and put in the performances needed for them to be among the
Premier League elite for one more season. Sturridge has quality in abundance
and should be able to become a game changer in any match he plays.
By @nathan_said
HATE LIVERPOOL, like this article though.
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