Premier League 2018/19: SWOT Analysis Of Liverpool

LIVERPOOL - THREATS

Manchester City

Manchester City is still the favourite in the EPL

All the impressive signings made by Liverpool in this transfer window would have the club going into the new season with lofty ambitions, and rightly so, as smart buys by the club will likely address some lapses from previous seasons. However, The Reds have a genuine threat to their title aspirations in the form of last season's runaway Champions Manchester City.

Guardiola's army totally decimated all and sundry before them last term, breaking and setting a plethora of EPL records, including; Most points in a single league season (100), most wins in a season (32), most consecutive victories (20), highest goal difference (79), highest points difference to second place (19), most passes (28,242), most goals scored (106) and most away wins (16) among others.

The Cityzens have already wrapped up their first title of the season, with their 2-0 victory over Chelsea in the Community Shield. The emphatic nature of City's win at Wembley on Sunday means that more of the same from last season is to be expected, as the players of Man City seem to have absorbed the entirety of Guardiola's methods.

In almost any other era, Liverpool would have gone into the league season as genuine favorites owing to their impressive transfer dealings, however, this is very much Manchester City's title to lose, and whether Liverpool can usurp them to the crown remains to be seen, although it would be a thrill watching them try.

Unsettlement of new arrivals

While a lot of emphasis is always placed on how new arrivals can strengthen a team, not too much attention is given to its very likely opposite: non-adaptability of new signings to the Premier League.

Without a doubt, all the players signed by Liverpool in this window are quality players who will upgrade the squad, unlike the ill-advised spending spree embarked upon post-Torres, and if the new arrivals gel, Liverpool would be much stronger than last term.

However, the draw side to the influx of new players is the adaptability. All of Liverpool's new arrivals bar Shaqiri have yet to taste Premier League action, and we've seen numerous examples of players failing to adapt, as the culture change proved to be too much of a shock to them.

Footballers are very much humans like the rest of us (despite what Instagram and other social media pages would make us believe), and they experience the same emotions as we the fans. Going to a new country with a different language, different foods, different way of life, and most times in the absence of your family and loved ones would prove a difficult situation for most of us, and the same applies to footballers.

If Liverpool's new players blend into Jurgen Klopp's system, then the club can genuinely challenge Man City for the top spot. However, if the opposite occurs, which is something no Reds fan would want to contemplate, then it could be back to square one for Liverpool.