In: Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo, £9m), Simon Mignolet (Sunderland, £9m), Luis Alberto (Seville, £6.8m), Kolo Touré (Manchester City, Free).

Out: Andy Carroll (West Ham, £15m), Stewart Downing (West Ham, £6m), Jonjo Shelvey (Swansea, £5m rising to £6m), Danny Wilson (Hearts, Free), Pepe Reina (Napoli, Loan), Jack Robinson (Blackpool, Loan), Suso (Almeria, Loan), Jay Spearing (Bolton, £2m).
Retired: Jamie Carragher.

Prediction: 6th

So it looks as though Suarez is staying and if their rumoured bid for Willian comes off they could have quite a handy side this season. They’ve done well to move on some of the fringe players and Aspas, Toure and Mignolet should do a job too.

However, I still think they’re lacking the quality for a successful top-four challenge. The teams above them have too much quality and it’ll take a while to bridge that gap. They should get a lot closer than they did last season though, and you’d fancy them to put together a decent cup run as well.

i think if saurez stays and plays like he did last season they could suprise a lot of people. saurez, sturridge, coutinho and gerrard is a quality attacking force with lots of goals and they have a pretty solid defence. they could easily challenge with arsenal and spurs for fourth place this season.

All fair points but I can't shake the feeling that they'll have a woefully inconsistent start to the season, followed by a decent second half which will ultimately prove to be too little, too late.

Just like pretty much every other season they've had over the last 5 years, but possibly not as severe.

true, its kinda become the norm for them. slow start and inconsistent form. this whole saurez thing wont help and the fact that he is banned for the start of the season. so yeah i think it does depend a lot on their start and what happens with saurez.

Shall we start to take Liverpool seriously now? I personally thought they would struggle against the mid table teams that they often drew or lost against in the past. But this season they have shown good consistency and are playing good football (at least in the first half). Todays victory against a good West Brom side (who won at Old Trafford) has given us a better idea of how far they have come in the past year. What do you guys reckon, challenge for top 4?

They certainly look stronger. Mentally more than anything. Last season many would have predicted dropped pints for this fixture. Suarez seems to be giving the right headlines swell. Still can't bank on top 4 though just yet.

The problem for Liverpool breaking into the top 4 is that whilst they have slipped away and have been trying to recover, Man city have had a sugar daddy and spurs have strengthened too. So theres far too much competition for the top 4 and Spurs and Arsenal have better squads. Man united may not make it according to Savage on MOTD, so you never know :p

(26/10/2013, 21:39)jj007 Wrote: Shall we start to take Liverpool seriously now? I personally thought they would struggle against the mid table teams that they often drew or lost against in the past. But this season they have shown good consistency and are playing good football (at least in the first half). Todays victory against a good West Brom side (who won at Old Trafford) has given us a better idea of how far they have come in the past year. What do you guys reckon, challenge for top 4?

I can't see Chelsea, City and Arsenal not making the top 4, so that leaves one spot for (probably) Utd, Liverpool or Spurs.

The Scousers have been impressive so far but I think still too early to judge, give it another 10 games. Definitely their best chance to make it for a few years though, and I think the lack of European football this season could work in their favour.

I would say it is a big task for this team to come above Utd and Tottenham. If they do though they can truly say that they have improved and Brendan Rodgers will deserve a lot of that credit.