It may have come round a lot faster than usual but the excitement levels as we prepare to welcome back the Premier League is no different to any other season.
Although they have had weeks rather than months to prepare, Premier League clubs have made the most of the small window to whip their squads into shape for the new season.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has dismissed the idea of defending their Premier League title – insisting his side will ‘attack it with all we have’.
The Reds cruised to their first league crown in 30 years last season in a near-faultless season that saw them triumph by an 18-point margin over closest rivals Manchester City, but the German’s squad will have to push the reset button as they prepare to become the fourth side to retain the trophy.
The champions, who play Leeds United at Anfield in their season opener on Saturday, will face renewed pressure from Chelsea, who have invested heavily in the market, while Manchester City are always a threat, but Klopp said his side would be aggressive in their quest for more success.
‘Somebody told me we have to defend the title and I don’t understand that,’ he said in his pre-match press conference. ‘Maybe I’m not smart enough but if theres a title out there we showed last year that we were able to go for it.
‘We did it the year before also. That doesn’t mean we will this year, because we don’t take things for granted. But the titles out there – we attack them. We are all in the same position, zero games, zero points – let’s go for it.
‘That’s how I understand it and that’s how I always understood it, so why should we change it now just because we won [the title]?’
Klopp made the comparison to Liverpool’s Champions League knockout defeat to Atletico Madrid last season and how the team bounced back from that disappointment to win the league.
‘We went out of the Champions League last year because we faced a really good opponent and we were unlucky in the game,’ he added.
It was not about performance, it was not about desire, it was about football because it can happen – especially against these strong opponents, so we will go again.’
Source: Dailymaily.co.uk
