As one of the best TEAMS in Europe I fully expect us to be seriously competing for all of the remaining competitions we are in.
The squad that has delivered a gajillion points in the last few years didn’t all of a sudden become shit.
We will be there when the whips are cracking, guaran-fucking-teed, and that’s all you can ask. It’s a tough caper this professional sport thing; if it wasn’t, we’d all be doing it instead of spouting drivel on here.
The problem is he wasn’t only the best defender but also the most reliable. Gomez and Matip could be a good partnership, but expecting both to stay fit for a prolonged period? I have serious doubts. Let’s see where we are in January and who we get, then we can talk about expectations. Until then the only thing is hope, as said by @Hope.in.your.heart
I agree that the loss of VVD, Alisson and Thiago; the latter two for a lesser period than VVD, will affect us. But it’s unlikely to be a sucker-punch, unless we have stopped being The Mentality Monsters. Even with all the quality players in our folds, whatever we have achieved in last few seasons were more due to their mentality than their qualities.
The heartbreak at Kiev would have broken most teams. The relentless pursuit of The Emirs would have exhausted most teams. But we kept coming back; again and again and again. Was it just the additions of Alisson and VVD that helped us become the English, the European and the World champions!!! Didn’t Alisson and VVD themselves reached new heights after becoming Reds!!!
Do you remember the last season!!! How many times did we score a winner in the 85th or 90th or 94th minutes!!! How many times did our relentless bunch break down a dogged opposition? More times than I can possibly remember. Remember that magical night at Anfield!!! If Barcelona had taken the lesson that night, they wouldn’t have been in dire mess right now. Beyond the instinct of a striker or the ability to float a lustrous cross, it’s the attitude of the players that counts most.
The Mentality Monsters is not a buzz word, it’s the calling-card, the hallmark, the mantra of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool. It’s that ability, nay, the desire to keep getting up, keep going that has made heroes out of mere mortals like Lovren, Shaqiri, Origi, Lallana, Milner.
This team is more than capable of winning one of those.
Klopp makes the point over and over, it’s not about losing the header in the box, the failure is far earlier in allowing a cross to come in… We’ve become far less aggressive (trent is the worst culprit) at stopping crosses.
Like him or not Calvin-Lewin is a fucking giant, just like if we play against the likes of Kane, you will be beaten by him in the air on the percentages, even Van Dijk. So you stop it at source.
You just can’t stop conceeding corners, so that will be what it will be, but once Alisson less of a problem.
I am expecting plenty to doubt Klopp and the rest of the team and then hold their hands up and say yeah I did not expect us to win it again.
Winning the league is the bare minimum. Would be great to win the Champions League as well. But we need to win the league.
We’ve got a great team and some real special players. No excuses. A centre back can be signed in January but the club needs to be prepared to spend.
Henderson’s back from injury mate.
Losing Van Dijk is a blow, no doubt about it. But his loss isn’t as big a loss now as it would have been in 2018 or 2019.
Losing Alisson and Van Dijk together, however, is a real problem and hopefully we get Alisson back soon.
However, the biggest single loss to the team would be Henderson, and he’s back to sort this shit out.
Winning a trophy remains my expectation.
The real test will be how we defend crosses and high balls. I remember before VVD came all the talk was how crap we were at defending set pieces. I just hope we don’t go back to those days.
Given how this season has kicked off, anything is possible. We’ve seen a lot of surprise results, for ourselves and others. I think the circumstances of Covid has changed things up a lot.
I don’t think we can be as good as we have been without Virgil - but that doesn’t mean we can’t still finish the season with 85+ points, and be in the hunt come spring time. Time for the likes of Gomez, Matip and Fabinho to step up, and hopefully one of Rhys Williams, Billy the kid or Sepp can really develop and step up if needed.
I expect us to challenge for the title, but the loss of Virgil makes us underdogs again. Thing is, underdogs can be more dangerous than ever. Opposition teams will expect to score against us. The leaders in our team, and we have a lot of them, will need to step up.
We have, in my opinion, the strongest midfield and front line in the league. As long as we outscore opponents, we will win games. Maybe a bit of 13/14 style of footy this season.
I reckon 2nd place will have 85 points this year, which means I am expecting 86 from this group. Consistency won’t be the main currency this year in the prem, resilience will be. I’ll take Hendo and co over anyone else any day of the year.
This is a great point. I’m pretty downbeat after Van Dijk’s injury and I don’t think that Liverpool will be able to defend the title now that he’s out for the season, especially with all the other injury issues throughout the squad, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t hope that Liverpool’s experience with Klopp will give them belief that will edge them in front of the second placed team.
I wouldn’t have problems with Liverpool surrendering the crown to Aston Villa only, though, the thought of some of the others winning it makes me sick.
I have no idea if we will or won’t successfully defend the tile, but I am confident we won’t “surrender”. There is no sign of such a trait in this side.
They’ll have to get past my front door to take my tiles. 
I thought our chances of retaining the league went out the window with Virgil’s injury. But after watching City struggle badly against West Ham , my optimism returned. They aren’t a patch on what they were even last season never mind the one before that. Their injuries are really piling up and unless they start stringing together some results and playing like they want it then I could even see Pep bailing.
Massive game now when we go there in a couple of weeks. The winners of that one will probably deservedly become favourites for the title.
Never look further than the next match and that is West Ham win that first than think about the next PL match.
They’ve got a harder one than us before it … Sheff Utd away.
Absolutely Dutch, now we’ve got Fabs out for ‘weeks’ so really it’s just about eking out the wins one game at a time. The Hammers game will be tough so 3 points there would be wonderful. Make no mistake we will start underdogs against citeh and even were we to win both it would still be far too early to think we are favourites.
Yes last season in this part of the season we become famous for grinding out matches, think we just have to grind a bit further this time. 
But with Becker back in goal, Jota upfront as an extra and Thiago in midfield we are still the team to beat for the PL title.
I’d be backing Liverpool to be there and thereabouts competing for the title. Don’t think we’ve got the quality in defense right now especially with Matip made of glass. Depends on how quickly Fabinho recovers , If he recovers in time to face City, Then we’ve got a chance.
That said, VVD played vs Villa and the whole defensive unit had a massive cockup , So it’s important to get the tactics right.
Hold the fort and hope that there isn’t any team which gets on a run till the January window, Cut off on the expansive playing out from the back especially as the CB’s aren’t there to pick those passes to the FWD’s. Nat Phillips probably needs to be blooded on and be given confidence by the seniors. This is gonna be a tough season though.
What could be a silver lining is that this probably gives Gomez the chance to improve himself and exert himself more (in terms of leadership etc), He’s been too often content to let VVD , Matip and Fabinho play the senior CB role , now the onus is on him to step up and show people that he’s got what it takes to lead the defensive line too… Not easy considering it’s the PL and all matches are tough but it can be what makes his career.