5 Things you need to know about Liverpool ahead of the Premier League season

1. Up next for the Premier League previews is Liverpool who are heading into the new season under Andoni Iraola after what can only be regarded as a ‘disastrous’ year in 24/25, after winning the league the previous season most people expected Liverpool to retain the Premier League after splashing the cash in the summer on the likes of Alexander Isak, Floarian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Jeremy Frimpong. Isak spent most of the season side-lined by multiple injuries with Liverpool’s brightest spark Ekitike often the only shining light in a torrid side, which made it all the worse when he done his Achilles in the second leg against PSG at Anfield. It’s unlikely we see him before the new year but Liverpool did manage to squeeze into the Champions League spots by the end of the season, that wasn’t enough to save Arne Slot’s job as they parted ways a couple of weeks after the end of the season which I think everyone saw coming after it was confirmed that Iraola was leaving Bournemouth. The question now is whether or not Iraola can breath some life into a team that lacked so much energy last year, he’s the right man for the job in my opinion.

2. How has the transfer window gone so far for Liverpool? There hasn’t been a multitude of incomings like last year but Liverpool did sign Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes in January who is a top prospect at centre-back but unfortunately has spent pre-season side-lined by injury, their first signing of the summer was Victor Munoz from Osasuna who is a pacey left-winger who adds something different to the Liverpool attack. Then last week they signed a much needed centre-back by the name of Ronald Araujo from Barcelona on loan with an option to buy, the Uruguayan has had a very rocky last couple of seasons to say the least but at his best he is a top centre-back. There’s been a few high-profile outgoings at Liverpool as well with Ibrahima Konate leaving on a free to Real Madrid, Andrew Robertson leaving on a free to Spurs whilst Mohammed Salah has also left on a free to Trabzonspor. Liverpool have been trying to replace Salah with a top-class winger all window with all signs pointing to Bradley Barcola but as of today that deal still isn’t done but I’d imagine they will get the Frenchman come the end of the window, I still think they need a right-back and midfielder but that’s a lot of business to do in 2 and a half weeks. Can they complete all their business by the end of window? Only time will tell.

3. What’s pre-season looked like for Liverpool this summer? Liverpool kicked off their pre-season with a 4-2 win over Sunderland in which Kieran Morrison, Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas all got on the scoresheet. Next up was a 1-0 win over Wrexham where Rio Ngumoha scored the only goal of the game, Liverpool’s final game of their USA tour was against Leeds where they lost 4-2 after going two goals up early on. Luke Chambers and Floarian Wirtz got on the scoresheet for Liverpool before a second half collapse where they conceded four unanswered goals, as of writing this their last pre-season game was against AS Monaco where they lost 3-2 yet again letting a two-goal lead slip. Goals came from Alexander Isak and Floarian Wirtz in the first half, Liverpool’s final game of pre-season is against Como on Sunday before kicking off their Premier League season against Newcastle at St James Park. One interesting quote from Iraola after the Monaco game was when he said, “ The problem right now is they don’t have the energy for 90 minutes, they start to get tired and it will take time for them, we need more training with them”. Going from Slot to Iraola is a massive change for these Liverpool players so I wouldn’t be surprised if they started the season relatively slow and grew as the year went on.

4. Who are the players to watch for Liverpool this season? There’s two that instantly spring to mind who are Alexander Isak and Floarian Wirtz, first of all I do have some sympathy for Isak who couldn’t gain any momentum last season because of injury but when he did play he looked a shadow of the player we saw at Newcastle. He’s Liverpool’s only real option up front with Ekitike out so he’s going to be vital to any success Liverpool have this season, as for Floarian Wirtz I was so disappointed with his performances last season as someone who was mesmerised at times by his performances for Leverkusen. There has been glimpses but nowhere near enough for a player of his quality so it’ll be interesting to see how he performs under Iraola this season, I have to say I am so intrigued by this Araujo signing as it has all the makings of a complete disaster but also could reignite the Uruguayan’s career. He was absolutely shocking last season but it can be hard to gauge centre-backs in Hansi Flick’s system with the high-line so maybe new surroundings will be perfect for him, he would worry me though if I was a Liverpool fan.

5. Predictions for Liverpool this season? This is actually quite a tough one to be honest, if they do get Bradley Barcola through the door I’d imagine that top 4/5 would almost be a guarantee but I don’t see a world where they are fighting for the title this season. They are another team that I think suit European football with the sheer firepower in the team but again I do think they’ll be a level below the likes of PSG, Bayern Munich and Barcelona this season. I think winning a trophy in his first season would do Iraola the world of good whether that’s a Carabao or FA cup so that should definitely be an aim for the Liverpool manager this season, I suppose it’s similar to Carrick in a way where Liverpool will want a season of stability whilst building towards a title challenge for the season after. Whether that’s good enough for Liverpool or not we’ll have to wait and see, one guarantee is that the football will be more entertaining than last season. I don’t think that’ll be too difficult to achieve.