Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira has claimed that Liverpool will challenge for the Premier League and Champions League once again next season.
In quotes from cpfc.co.uk ahead of today’s friendly in Singapore, Vieira was speaking about Liverpool.
“There is no easy game against Liverpool,” said the manager. “We are facing a team that will be there at the top to challenge for the title, and will be there to challenge for winning the Champions League. It’s preparation that will give us, and me as a manager, an idea about where we are. It’s really good game preparation for us.”
The Reds kick-off against Palace at the slightly awkward time of 1.35pm today.
Reds early season favourites once again
It’s hardly earth-shattering stuff from Vieira to claim that Liverpool will be at the top again next season. Still, we could get used to this.
Not too long ago Liverpool would head into seasons more in hope than expectation of challenging for the big prizes. Now, The Reds are nailed-on as one of the pre-season favourites.
That comes with its own difficulties, of course. But this Liverpool side haven’t been deemed ‘mentality monsters’ by their coaches for nothing.
Whenever they have to dig in and pull out results, they usually do just that. Even in the club’s most underwhelming season of recent times – the waking nightmare of 2020/21 – they still ground out a quite incredible third-placed finish.
To a much lesser extent, they’ll have to show a little bit of that grit against Vieira’s Palace today. It’s only pre-season, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the last game was a 4-0 loss against Manchester United.
Although it isn’t worth dwelling on friendly results, privately, that will have hurt Jurgen Klopp and his players. They’ll be keen to restore some pride whilst also getting more minutes in their legs today.
Klopp is likely to go a little stronger with his side than we saw against United. Bit by bit, he’ll demand to see progress towards the goals of next season.