Before Man Utd. Shall we begin?

The new Premier League season has just arrived. Past results are forgotten, now is time to look into the future!

Different transfer strategies

The reigning Premier League champions have certainly had an incredibly busy transfer window. Accused of being an attacking-minded team, they decided to … splash out cash on even more firepower! We're talking attacking wing-backs, eye-watering fees for a number 9 and 10, and they're still not giving up on Isak.

You've got to hand it to their selling department. Bagging almost £200 million in sales in one window, while Arsenal are sat on a frankly embarrassing £8 million. It's not even a competition at this point.

Liverpool have been incredibly competent in this area, and their secret isn't exactly rocket science. They sell players who are part of the main squad and would be beneficial during the season, but aren't truly critical to the team's core. Diaz, Darwin, Kelleher, and Quansah – all contributed in decisive moments in the 24/25 season and genuinely helped secure the title. But Liverpool aren't hoarding them. They're selling players for good money and reinvesting the cash to raise the team's ceiling.

In our world, that would mean shipping off the likes of Martinelli, Kiwior or Calafiori, and Trossard this year, and Zinchenko, Partey, and Gabi Jesus last year. But Arsenal hold onto their players until their value completely tanks. You might argue we were prepping for a title run, but the same strategy has been employed throughout Arteta's entire reign.

This summer, Arsenal have taken an even more radical approach, seemingly overcompensating for last season's squad problems by signing six new players. We are absolutely packed! Even if we cross out four senior players Arteta clearly doesn't rate – Zinchenko, Vieira, Lokonga, and Nelson (and we could even add Jesus to that list) – we still can't fit all the new faces on the bench. We've got two fully assembled teams that could genuinely compete for a top-four spot, and that's before you even consider young Max Dowman.

You can mix and match the squad all you like, but the bottom line is we have twelve players ready for just nine bench spots! Utter madness! Hopefully, this strategy will truly pay off in the long term against the "strong individuals" approach Liverpool so masterfully employs.

Same old Liverpool

However, in the opening match of the season it was the same old Liverpool again.Plenty of attacking menace, yes, but equally open at the back, just begging for counter-attacks. A. Iraola is a great coach, he clearly saw what needed doing, but he was miles off having the manpower to pull it off. After Zabarnyi, Huijsen, and Dango all legged it for a whopping £160 million, Iraola was left with basically two players he could trust to convert those breaks. One of 'em, a lad named Antoine Semenyo, ended up bagging a brace with two cracking finishes after some powerful runs. Why on earth did we go for Madueke and let him slip through our fingers? The man's got a unique blend of pace and power, absolutely vital in this league for terrorising defences. I know all the talk about ball carries and dribbling, but I can't see anyone in our squad scoring goals like that, apart from perhaps our shiny new number nine.

Just like the whole of last season, Liverpool's answer was simply to "just score more than the opponent." Salah, who wasn't exactly setting the world alight for most of the match, still scored up a fantastic individual goal. A diagonal sprint in the 94th minute, leaving defenders for dead, tells you everything about his insatiable hunger for goals. He just isn't comfortable finishing a game any other way. Despite all the comparisons, unfortunately, Saka doesn't (yet?) possess that quality. Being 3-2 up with three minutes to go, Saka in this Arsenal team would likely hold the ball, wait for his teammates, and probably win a foul. And while that's perfectly sensible, it's that relentless desire that truly elevates players to their absolute peak.

On the positive side, except Salah, Wirtz was completely anonymous in the final third. It's clear now that it's going to take him (and Frimpong) some time to get used to the physicality of the Premier League. Ekitike, though, despite coming from the same league, absolutely thrived. Even if his touch wasn't always the cleanest, he just radiated chaos and energy on the pitch. Unfortunately, it looks like they splashed a fair bit of cash on a very dangerous player there.

Overall, with so much individual attacking firepower, they'll certainly win plenty of games in these kinds of scenarios. There might be matches where Aston Villa, Newcastle, or even, dare I say it, Manchester United punish them for their leaky defence, but for the most part, they'll still outscore the opposition, especially from the bottom half. I reckon we're looking at over 80 points for Liverpool this season, and that tally will only go up with the arrival of a certain Swedish professional striker (pun absolutely intended).

It's the first time since the glory days of Mané, Firmino, and Salah that Liverpool's attack genuinely looks scarier than Manchester City's.

Tricky first step

We need to be ready to step up to this challenge and actually use our benefit of two squads to our advantage. And that starts on Sunday at Old Trafford.

Now, let's be honest, Manchester United aren't exactly short of individual attacking brilliance themselves. Mbuemo, Cunha, Bruno, Amad, and the freshly arrived Sesko – that's a seriously decent list of threats. And if Sesko's only just settled in, you can bet your bottom dollar he'll be dreaming of causing us some serious damage in the last 15 minutes.

But, if we put aside all the banter about United's struggles last season, it's worth remembering that Amorim actually had a pretty good track record against the top teams. That includes a hard-fought draw away at Liverpool, four points taken off City, and two draws against us in PL and the FA Cup. While he might have had his headaches trying to implement a possession-based style, he had no struggles setting up incredibly effective defensive blocks against attacking sides. And with the firepower he's got at his disposal, those counter-attacks look more dangerous than ever.

And therein lies the huge trap we could fall into. Mbuemo and Bruno have a history of netting against us, and I've already touched on the Sesko situation. On the flip side, we can also hope for Big Vik to truly show what he's made of. So far, Gyokeres hasn't given us a single reason to doubt that he'll be sniffing out every last opportunity at that damned stadium.

Unfortunately, these types of opening fixtures often have a habit of turning into a goal-fest draw. Something along the lines of a 2-2, where both managers can trot out the line that they "went for the win" and had a fair few chances to actually bag it. Fans, for the most part, aren't usually too annoyed with such results either. Amorim simply cannot afford to start with a loss after finishing 16th, losing a Europa League final, and having a bustling summer in the transfer market. And Arteta, after all the title talk, certainly can't kick off with a defeat.

Logic dictates a 2-2, but football has a knack for throwing a massive, surprising punch to the face when you least expect it, doesn't it?

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