The Premier League Title
Samantha Brown looks at the potential of Liverpool Football Club winning the Premier League title.
Liverpool supporters have seen a transfer summer like this one before. In 2007, Liverpool were Champions League beaten finalists with a squad that overachieved to reach the showpiece game. Manager Rafael Benitez spent over £45 million on new players, with the most expensive being Fernando Torres. Unfortunately, a fourth-place Premier League finish followed, and for all of Liverpool's spending, nothing further was achieved. There were plenty of reactions to winning and losing money that season, but Liverpool would perform better a year later. In 2008-09, the Reds flirted with the title before finishing second.
This summer has seen Liverpool splurge once more. The purse strings have been significantly loosened for manager Jurgen Klopp as the club's amount of money is far more than 11 years ago. Liverpool has bought three mid-fielders in Xherdan Shaqiri, Naby Keita, and Fabinho. All three significantly improve the side and give Liverpool depth the team lacked the last term. The club has also signed in-demand goalkeeper Alisson Becker from Roma, ending its biggest weakness. Liverpool has spent over £174m this summer. Now, can the Reds win the Premier League title?
Liverpool's spending has prompted Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho to start the mind games. The rival manager has stated Liverpool 'must win' the Premier League title after spending so heavily. Mourinho has recently focused much of his talk on Liverpool, but that could be due to Manchester United's poor summer transfer business. The club has signed three underwhelming players. Lee Grant joined from Stoke, teenage prospect Diogo Dalot signed from Porto, and defensive midfielder Fred was purchased from Shakhtar Donetsk. The Liverpool Echo wrote, "Mourinho is talking about Liverpool because no one wants to watch Manchester United".
Unfortunately, Mourinho is correct. This season, Liverpool must win the Premier League title after spending so much money. The squad is arguably far better than it has been in the last decade. Klopp has proven goal scorers in Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino and a creative winger in Sadio Mane. Jordan Henderson is a leader that can spray the ball around, and finally, Henderson has protection in the midfield three with Fabinho and Keita. The pair will run and win the ball for Henderson to create chances. Liverpool now has the best defensive unit they have had in years. Alisson provides much safer hands than any Liverpool goalkeeper since Pepe Reina. Alisson kept the second most Serie A clean sheets last term with 17. His total was seven clean sheets better than Loris Karius in the Premier League.
Liverpool has the pieces and the coach to achieve a Premier League title, but can they catch reigning champions Manchester City? Pep Guardiola's side has made one big transfer deal, and that was for Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez. The £60m winger will most likely be third-choice. Most importantly, Manchester City is no weaker than they were last season.
The Reds showed they could beat Manchester City last term. The club took three of four matches against their rivals in all competitions. But as it is in most Liverpool seasons, the Reds must win the games they are expected to win. Liverpool has to translate their big spend into winning football matches. That is what undid Liverpool 10 years ago under Benitez.
Page Reference
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- BROWN, S. (2018) The Premier League Title [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article364.htm [Accessed
About the Author
Samantha Brown is the Relationship Manager with Web Solvent, a content marketing agency specializing in the Sports niche.