Are we really any stronger or should I be worried?

[Guest]

Liverpool do not have what it takes to win the Premier League,

says Patrick Barclay
The Times Chief Football Commentator gives his verdict on the club's prospects for the new season.

He talks to Ben Smith

Torres and Gerrard must stay fit if Liverpool are to succeed this season


(Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Torres and Gerrard must stay fit if Liverpool are to succeed this season

* 41 Comments

Recommend? (25)

What will the mood be at Anfield as the season begins?

It would have been much more optimistic had Liverpool managed to hang on to Xabi Alonso. He had become a key component of the team and the midfield partnership he formed with Javier Mascherano gave the whole team a solid look and enabled Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard to attack without the Liverpool captain having to worry about protecting his back four.

The loss of Alonso would be my major reservation about their chances. Overall they are a slightly weaker team than last season and their best chance of the title has come and gone. It's a real shame because it was all building up very, very nicely for Liverpool.

What did you make of their summer transfer activity?

Glen Johnson will certainly add drive down the right. He is a wonderful attacking full back and he will give Liverpool much more conviction down that right hand side. But he isn't as good a defender, in fact teams will target Liverpool in that area and attempt to get into the space behind him. We saw last night in the England match that Johnson was badly exposed down the Holland left.

Alberto Aquilani is clearly a talent, but I am not sure he is in the same class as Alonso, in terms of his leadership qualities. He's certainly not a bad acquisition.

Alonso's departure will affect the general solidity of the side and that could put more pressure on the back four than last season, asking more questions of Martin Skrtel, Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger.

Who is their key player?

Torres. If I have a worry about Torres it is that he has had another pretty busy summer with the Confederations Cup, when he really could have done with time off. He was out injured for some time last season so maybe that will even things up and allow him to come back refreshed.

He's arguably the best striker in the world. If Liverpool can can get 34 league matches out of him, they ought to get 20-25 goals - that's how good he is. We saw what happened on the rare occasions that he and Gerrard played together last season, we all remember the 4-1 win at Old Trafford.

Which young player is most likely to make an impact?

I like the look of the Emiliano Insua, the Argentine left back. He's young, hard-working and a very constructive footballer.

If Agger qualifies as a young player then I would also include him. He is a wonderful footballing centre half and I am looking forward to seeing him after a season blighted by injury.

What is the best and worst that Liverpool can hope for?

The best Liverpool can hope for is to finish second. I just can't see them having the strength to compete with Chelsea or even Manchester United. They do have real strength, they have an outstanding goalkeeper in Pepe Reina and Carragher is a great character and an inspiration, but I just can't see them being as strong as last season.

The worst would be fifth, that's assuming things really went against them and they had problems with injuries.

[Guest]

We need another world class attacking player. I reiterate, we need a player of proven and world class quality. Gerrard and Torres won't play all the games this season and if we are going to fight on two fronts, i.e. the PL and the CL, we need to have another quality addition there, unless Ngog steps up a whole lot and gives us that quality, which I doubt.

I fear that initially, we may be a little exposed at the back because we've lost some stability in midfield as Lucas is a more offensive player than Xabi and he's also less astute tactically because he's still a young player still learning his trade. That could leave Mascher having a lot to do to protect our back four. We've seen that in the match against Athletico, that our midfield doesn't have as much control on games and is a little bit too gung-ho at times.

On a more positive mode, I'm optimistic that some players will improve, such as Lucas and will give us a more attacking mindset at home. That's why, IMO, that we should buy another quality forward, so that we don't have to be too worried when we concede a goal as we'll make up for that in attack.

[redlancer]

even with the loss of Alonso I'd say we are are stronger mentaly.

End of last season we gave United a run foir their money and that will be installed in the players. There will be belief we can beat United this year, and without Tevez and Ronaldo last season would be off won it?

Key will be fitness/injuries of our key players

Players like Kuyt and Yossi if they keep on improving will be important.

[Craig_H]

I think that, until we see Aquilani and have evidence that he can fill the void left by Alonso, we're probably slightly weaker.

However, the silver lining is that United are considerably weaker and Chelsea have replaced what was a very successful coach, so until we see how they fare, we wont know whether they'll be weaker or not.

[Guest]

It's interesting to hear Rafa talking about bringing more 'quality' and in Glen Johnson and Aquilani (providing he adapts here) I think we've done just that. The only downside of it is that we've lost three quality players also, and we're going to slightly change our first 11 to accommodate Lucas.

[red g]

Alonso for Lucas makes us weaker......but hopefully aquiliani will level it out
Johnson for Arbeloa makes us stronger......
hyppiaa for ???(san jose at mo ) makes us weaker.....

but then mentally i think we are way stronger than this time last season and i also think we will be getting more options in.

My major worry for the first 6 weeks of the season is Lucas for Alonso, but everything i have seen so far in pre-season makes me think Lucas may be ready to step upto the plate.



i think we can only judge when transfer window is closed

[Craig_H]

I still think Arbeloa is a better defender than Johnson.

[red g]

I still think Arbeloa is a better defender than Johnson.

but arbeloa had many a moment where he was caught out of position etc.

I am hoping that under Rafa, Johnsons game will flourish defensively, he has hardly had the best managers for that as he?

although was he at pompey when adams was working with them?

i mean redknapp and hart hardlly come with defensive nous and mourinho didnt rate him.

[Reece]

I still think Arbeloa is a better defender than Johnson.

Why have you not mentioned this before?

[Guest]

Why have you not mentioned this before?

He was indeed having a go at Arbeloa, IIRC when he was still with us.

[Craig_H]

Why have you not mentioned this before?

Plenty of people post the same point on several occasions, so stop singling me out please. It's a form of bullying.

[Craig_H]

He was indeed having a go at Arbeloa, IIRC when he was still with us.

No you're confused. I was having a go at you. Like everyone else does. Because people dont like you.

[Reece]

Plenty of people post the same point on several occasions, so stop singling me out please. It's a form of bullying.

[Reece]

I like Fredo btw

[Craig_H]

No you dont.

Dont make me post the PM you sent me