Liverpool's Title Aspirations: Predictions for the New Season

Liverpool, once the darlings of last season’s prediction tables, are walking into this campaign with far fewer hands raised in their corner.

Twelve months ago, 22 of 35 BBC pundits tipped them to win the title. Only three thought they would slip below second. That wave of confidence has ebbed. This time, from 28 predictors, only four have them finishing higher than third. The mood has shifted from certainty to curiosity.

Faith in Iraola – with caveats

Thomas Hitzlsperger remains one of the bolder voices. He has Liverpool down as runners-up.

“I’ve gone for them to finish second because I really like the way Iraola’s teams play,” he says, pinning his colours firmly to the new manager’s style. There is more than tactics in his reasoning, though. Hitzlsperger freely admits a personal leaning: he is “kind of biased” because he is hoping Florian Wirtz finally delivers the season many expected from him last year.

That mix of admiration for Andoni Iraola’s aggressive, front-foot football and optimism over Wirtz’s potential ceiling keeps Liverpool high in his table. It is a prediction built on upside, not certainty.

Danny Murphy is less bullish. He parks Liverpool in third and sounds a note of caution.

Salah’s shadow and a shifting attack

For Murphy, the issue is timing. Liverpool, he argues, might simply need longer before they can go punch-for-punch for the title again. The biggest question looms over the right flank and the legacy of Mohamed Salah.

Murphy wonders whether Liverpool believe they have already done enough to reshape that area. The arrival of Victor Munoz and the possibility of a bigger role for Rio Ngumoha could be the internal answers. Or they could be stopgaps.

The alternative is a late, decisive move in the market. Murphy namechecks Paris St-Germain’s Bradley Barcola as the type of player Liverpool could yet go for in the final days of the window. The club, and the league, are waiting to see which route they choose.

Iraola’s step up under scrutiny

Sue Smith is more cautious still. She places Liverpool fourth and zeros in on the scale of Iraola’s new challenge.

She acknowledges the gulf between managing Bournemouth and managing Liverpool – the weight of expectation, the relentless scrutiny, the demand to compete on multiple fronts. Judging him purely on his work on the south coast, she is impressed. Bournemouth under Iraola were bold, organised and often thrilling.

Her concern lies elsewhere.

Defensively, she is not convinced. The right-hand side in particular troubles her. In a league where small weaknesses are ruthlessly targeted, Smith sees that flank as a potential fault line that could cost Liverpool crucial points.

The result is a very different picture from last summer’s near-consensus. The talent is there. The intrigue is there. But with doubts over the defence, uncertainty over Salah’s succession and a manager taking the biggest step of his career, the question hangs over Anfield: are Liverpool still title contenders, or a team in transition daring everyone to underestimate them?