Liverpool

As you already know, I am a Liverpool fan. Which can be quite frustrating as arguably in recent years, the team hasn't been highly successful in the Premier League. Rafa Benitez has done a great job in building the team with the resources he has and with his tactical acumen, I think he has been able to get some great results in cup competitions (particularly in Europe).

However, I suspect that many Liverpool fans (myself included) won't really see Liverpool as a successful club until they win themselves a Premiership. So the question arises whether Liverpool can use the new money they have access to and buy enough better players to win the Premiership.

Admittedly, Liverpool have gone and bought some pretty good players over the summer. Fernando Torres and Andrey Voronin both look to be pretty good strikers. Together with Ryan Babel, I really think that Liverpool have done a great job this summer in shoring up their team. Furthermore, based on their recent showing in Hong Kong, it looks like they are gelling well with the rest of the team.

However, are they good enough to win the Premiership?

Unfortunately, I still don't think they are yet (although I hope I am proven wrong). I think they will make a much better challenge than they have in recent years - but I still think they will fall short.

Part of the reason for this is the strength of Man Utd and Chelsea (although I still feel that Man Utd don't have a strong enough backup squad to deal with injuries). Part of the reason is that I'm not sure if the new players signed by Liverpool will be able to adjust in time to the Premiership. For some reason, I get the feeling that Liverpool will start strongly but will drop off towards the end of the season.

As I said, I hope I am wrong. But either way, I will be revisiting this post come May 2008.