Liverpool have been touted as the team to challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title by even Pep Guardiola (h/t Independent).

The Reds already had a decent squad last season and instead of selling their top stars, we added a quality keeper, two world-class midfielders and a player that can turn on the style when we need it the most.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have finished in the top-four in consecutive seasons and we also reached the Champions League final last time around, even after selling Philippe Coutinho in the winter window.

The form of our forwards will be important in the season ahead but so will our ability to break down teams that sit back and defend.

For all the great performances from the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, we have seen a side of Liverpool that isn’t all that great.

The Reds drew 12 games last season, the most by any of the top five teams, while we only lost five games all season, the lowest after Manchester City.

Unable to beat the lower rung sides

The Premier League is one of the toughest leagues in the world and even the lower placed sides can give a fight to the top clubs. Liverpool found it hard to break down some of these so-called “smaller sides” last time around.

The Reds drew against Watford, Burnley, Newcastle United, Stoke City and twice against West Bromwich Albion. Our losses from last season in the league came against Swansea City right after we beat Manchester City at Anfield.

Unlocking teams that are willing to fight and defend for their lives will be a true test of how we have grown under Klopp but there is another facet that we need to keep up – staying unbeaten at Anfield.

Liverpool have made Anfield a bit of a fortress and went 19 games unbeaten at home last season but we did not beat every team that came to Merseyside.

Our of the 19 games at home in the Premier League last season, we ended up drawing seven of them. That is 14 points dropped! Of course, we would not have won every game but you get the picture?

If we are to close the gap on Manchester City, we cannot draw against the sides that come to defend and frustrate us at Anfield.

We finished a mammoth 25 points behind City last season and had we converted all our draws into wins, we would still have been behind the Cityzens by 1 point. Of course, it would be difficult to believe we could lose points in only five games of the whole season and win all the other games.

But, this is the pace that Manchester City and Pep Guardiola set last time. City lost just a couple of matches, one of them was against us, and they drew just four games last season.

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Liverpool have it all to do this season if we are to challenge City for the title and converting those frustrating draws into wins will be a step in the right direction.