Despite replacing Sadio Mane with £64m Darwin Nunez amongst a trio of positive additions to the squad, Liverpool continue to be undervalued at every step of the way.
Delivering his 2022/23 season predictions, former Watford No.1 Ben Foster tipped the Reds to finish third in the English top-flight this term.
“This season I’m going to go for (Liverpool to finish) third. I think there’s going to be two better teams than Liverpool this year,” the Englishman spoke on the Cycling Goalkeeper YouTube channel (via Rousing the Kop). “Losing Sadio Mane, I think they’re in a little bit of a transition period, so I can’t see them being up there trying to win the Premier League. I just can’t, but I think they’ll do decent.”
It somewhat mirrors pre-season predictions delivered by a host of BBC Sport pundits ahead of the 2021/22 campaign in which Jurgen Klopp’s side wasn’t expected to finish in the top two by a multitude of commentators.
As much as such a statement will frustrate fans in light of how close we came to cementing this squad in the history books with our quadruple-chasing season, the reality is that we’ll fully embrace our status as ‘underdogs’.
Indeed, our German tactician will no doubt be hoping for our rivals to completely underestimate us following the exit of a world-class operator in Sadio Mane who sought pastures new in the Bundesliga.
Make no mistake: we will feel the loss of our former No.10, though we equally shouldn’t be inclined to call it quits before the first ball of the season proper has been struck.
Yet another name, to add to Paul Merson’s and almost every other football hack and pundit of those who are working on the basis of “if you keep saying it often enough, it’s GOT TO come true eventualy”. I don’t claim to know where we’ll finish this season], but I always get amused whenever I read these reports, and think “Do they want us marching through the streets with pitchforks and flaming torches like something out of a Hammer Film”?