Graeme Souness has stated that Liverpool would send out a strong message to the rest of the Premier League should they prevent Manchester City from winning a fourth consecutive title.
The Reds have been much improved based on their performances and points return at the same stage of last year's campaign.
After six matches in 2022/23 Jurgen Klopp's men trailed leaders Arsenal by six points, a gap that has been cut short to just two behind 2023/24's frontrunners Manchester City.
Two upcoming tests away to Tottenham and Brighton should prove to be good a benchmark to assess Liverpool's title credentials
"Jurgen won’t be happy that his team have conceded first in five of their eight games this season, though they have come back to win or draw, in a way that they often didn’t last season,"
"But if Liverpool can break City’s grip on the title this season, what a message it would send out to everyone else that there is another way to win trophies, which does not involve having limitless funds and a Gulf state sovereign wealth fund at your disposal."
The former Reds captain and manager cited his old club's net spend under Klopp and City's same, vastly superior statistic under Pep Guardiola
Souness added
"I now see a midfield who are more skilled, extremely technically gifted, and yet still have the high work-rate of their predecessors,"
"The best midfield in the eight years Klopp has been at the club consisted of Gini Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson and James Milner. That unit was extremely aggressive; constantly putting the opposite midfield under pressure to hurry and misplace their passes.
"None of that triumvirate I have named would be classed as technicians. But they had the fundamental thing which is often overlooked. A work ethic.
"They just gave 100% every time they crossed that white line. When lesser teams want to go from being a workaday side to one with a bit more flair, they generally sacrifice that work ethic for the additional bit of je ne sais quoi – and in the vast majority of cases they start to fail.
"When one or two fail to do the hard yards, your whole system falls down if you are not a terribly gifted team.
"But I think the players Liverpool have got in bring a greater technical component as well as the work ethic. Dominik Szoboszlai, the 22-year-old Hungarian, looks silky. He wants to pass the ball forward all the time. I really like the look of him.
"The same goes for Alex Mac Allister – the Argentinian with a Scottish name. It’s too early to start talking about Ryan Gravenberch, yet. It’s a different, more flamboyant midfield.
"They’ve got so much adventure – what the Italians like to call ‘fantasia’ – with a midfield who are not happy about passing the ball back and sideways and want to pass it forward at every opportunity."
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