Ex-Chelsea midfielder warns Liverpool about potential difficulty they’ve ‘brought on themselves’ | OneFootball

Liverpool have been warned that they must cope with a potential difficulty in the upcoming season that they’ve “brought on themselves”.

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In just nine days’ time, the Reds will begin their quest to retain the Premier League title when they welcome Bournemouth to Anfield, with Arne Slot’s team now the hunted in the race for supremacy rather than being the hunters of 12 months ago.

On the last five occasions that LFC began the season as English champions, they didn’t manage to defend their crown, and they face a different challenge as the team that everyone else is now striving to topple from their perch.

Craig Burley: Every team will be especially motivated to beat Liverpool

Speaking on ESPN FC, Craig Burley alluded to the potential pitfalls that Liverpool could face as defending champions, in contrast to when they were largely unfancied for the title this time last year.

The former Chelsea midfielder said: “The one thing for Liverpool is, every week home and away now, they are the team that everybody wants to beat.

“Last year when they started the season when Arne Slot came in, they were third favourites to win the league. It was Arsenal or Man City and Liverpol can’t win it, we thought. There’s a new manager coming in and he’s never been in the Premier League before and all that sort of nonsense.

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images/Getty Images For The Premier League)

“They put that to bed very quickly and they were the best team by far. They played some great stuff, but they are now the team to beat, so every weekend, Tuesday/Wednesday, weekend again, home and away, they’re the team that everyone wants to knock off.

“That’s a different level for them and that’s what they’ve just brought on themselves. They were so good last year in the Premier League that, wherever they go this year, teams are either going to sit really deep against them, so it might be different for them this year.”

A different challenge to 2024/25, but one that Liverpool will embrace

It’s largely forgotten that, when Liverpool were last defending champions in 2020/21, they actually started the season strongly (aside from that freak hammering at Aston Villa) before the spate of injuries took their toll over the winter months and the focus changed from going for the title to salvaging a top-four finish.

Burley is right in saying that the Reds won’t have the same element of surprise from which they benefitted last term, but the challenge of being the team that everyone wants to shoot down is one that Slot’s side will relish.

Winning the Premier League in such an emphatic manner inevitably means that we’ll have a target on our backs in the upcoming campaign, but a bold transfer window which has seen more than £250m spent on the likes of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike illustrates that LFC are embracing their status as the dominant force in the land.

Many opposition teams will inevitably try to sit deep and frustrate Liverpool this season, especially at Anfield, but we have the attacking tools to meet that literal and figurative barrier head-on and find a way past it.

There’s a very clear message stemming from L4 as the big kick-off approaches…catch us if you can!