WHEN Liverpool splashed out £440million on new signings, having just won the title by ten clear points, many braced themselves for a period of domination.
There was talk of Arne Slot’s men grinding their rivals into the dirt. Of breaking the British transfer record twice, then building a Shankly-esque bastion of invincibility.
And when they opened up their title defence with five straight wins, another runaway Premier League triumph looked on the cards.
Yet the Reds have suffered five defeats in six league games since and plunged into mid-table.
And we really shouldn’t be so surprised. Because all of that talk had come without the consideration of one glaring truth — defending the Premier League crown is far more difficult than winning it in the first place.
And unless you are Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, then it is likely that being crowned champions of England will be followed by an almighty meltdown.
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Jurgen Klopp’s Reds of 2020 suffered six straight home defeats and weren’t even close to retaining their title.
Antonio Conte won it with Chelsea in 2017 but fell out spectacularly with his star striker Diego Costa and went into a lengthy series of tantrums about Roman Abramovich’s apparent lack of ambition.
The Blues failed to qualify for the Champions League and the Italian was sacked.
Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester miracle of 2016 didn’t last long as he was axed the following February with the Foxes a point clear of the relegation places.
Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn 2 – all the info
TIME for round two of this generation’s family feud!
Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn go punch-for-punch once again as both rivals look to make their fathers proud.
The blockbuster rematch takes place at the 62,000-seater Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, November 15.
Eubank Jr narrowly outpointed his bitter foe after 12 brutal rounds in April to secure the bragging rights in what was certainly a Fight of the Year contender.
And the two British superstars will dance once more as Eubank Jr aims to do the double while Benn seeks revenge after suffering a first career loss.
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And the year before that, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea imploded in spectacular fashion — just a point above the bottom three when the axe fell after defeat at Leicester.
After City stuffed Liverpool 3-0 on Sunday, Guardiola spoke at length of how difficult it is to enjoy sustained success in English football.
The Catalan was in self-congratulatory mode after a crucial victory in his 1,000th game as a manager but he was not wrong.
City’s historic four titles in a row between 2021 and 2024 was a hugely underrated achievement.
This is an unforgiving league with precious few easy wins to be had. Winning it is exhausting. Going again after winning it is a feat of extreme endurance.
Liverpool are in crisis — their summer signings are bombing, their defence is shipping goals at an alarming rate and their talisman, Mo Salah, is suddenly being regarded as a liability.
Yet there were always question marks over Slot’s side because no reigning champions had ever made such sweeping changes to their first-choice starting line-up.
This was largely through necessity. Trent Alexander-Arnold had run down his contract, Luis Diaz was doing the same, Darwin Nunez had flopped and Andy Robertson appeared to be over the hill.
Any assessment of Liverpool’s form must come with recognition of the impact of Diogo Jota’s death — an unthinkable tragedy with unquantifiable consequences.
The inability of a swathe of new signings to gel effectively shouldn’t be a huge surprise.
Yet the form of Florian Wirtz, the first of those two record buys, is becoming a cause for serious concern.
The £116.5m signing from Bayer Leverkusen is a player of subtlety and vision but he is physically lightweight.
And, as a specialist No 10, he doesn’t fit into Slot’s shape, having recently been redeployed on the left flank.
After being mastered by one right-back, Matheus Nunes, on the pitch, he was then monstered by another, Gary Neville.
The Sky pundit claimed Wirtz looked like ‘a little boy’.
It was a cutting remark from a man whose tendency for over-the-top soundbites has made him Public Enemy No 1 — yet Neville had a point.
Liverpool’s second record signing of the summer, £130m Alexander Isak, has struggled for form and fitness and was an unused sub at City.
Hugo Ekitike was the only new arrival to hit the ground running but the French striker’s early form has faded.
Full-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez have been huge disappointments.
Yet Salah is the greatest worry of all.
The reigning Footballer of the Year is nowhere near his usual stellar self when going forward.
And it is an open secret that opponents are targeting his side because of his lack of defensive cover. Now there are serious concerns that, at 33, Salah may have disappeared over the brow of the hill.
Or that after agreeing his much-whined-about new contract, he is lacking motivation.
Usually during an Afcon season, Liverpool fans fret about losing their Egyptian king for a significant part of mid-season.
This year, they may not be so bothered.
Salah is not the only one suffering a serious dip — centre-back Ibrahima Konate has been in ragged form for most of this campaign and had a shocker at the Etihad.
Liverpool’s inability to complete their summer trolley dash by capturing Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi looks ever more costly as a result.
There are many Âfactors, individual and collective, which have led to such a dramatic nosedive in form.
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Chief of all, though, is that Liverpool have been attempting to chase down GOATs.
Because only the very best — Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea  originals and   Guardiola’s City — have ever been remorseless enough to retain the Premier League  title.
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