Liverpool begin the Andoni Iraola era in earnest this afternoon with their Premier League opener at Newcastle United, but a turbulent summer has left even the most partisan supporter with significant caution.
Encouragement from a fresh start under the new head coach has dissipated given events in the transfer window. An already understrength squad saw Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate leave for nothing before Curtis Jones departed to Inter Milan on Friday in a deal that could eventually bag Liverpool £30million.
Patchy search for replacements
Concern has been exacerbated by the patchy search for replacements. Jeremy Jacquet and the on-loan Ronald Araujo have come in to bolster the defence while Victor Munoz guarantees at least one fresh face in the forward line.
The trio, though, had little precious game time during pre-season. Although Jacquet enthused the Anfield crowd with his 45-minute outing in the final friendly against Como last weekend, all three have yet to kick a ball in the Premier League, contributing to the sense of the unknown.
Then there is the ongoing failure to fill the gap left by Salah's exit, which had been known since late March. It seems unlikely Liverpool will go without purchasing a new right winger before the September 1 deadline - they remain in talks with Brighton over Yankuba Minteh - but the optics haven't reflected well on sporting director Richard Hughes, who is widely expected to be coming to the end of his time in the position.
Kerkez on Iraola's methods
The lack of options in attack has hampered Iraola's attempts to integrate his methods into playing personnel the head coach readily admits is short in key areas. The sale of Jones also raises questions over the identity of the squad with Liverpool now without any senior Scouse players for the first time in living memory while they have maxed out the number of non-homegrown players they can register.
One player well versed in the methods of the Basque is Milos Kerkez, who spent two years working under the Liverpool head coach during his time at Bournemouth before switching to Anfield last summer. The Hungary international is in a good position to assess the impact Iraola has already made.
"(It's) totally different in terms of high press and front-footed football," said Kerkez, when comparing the approach to that of Slot last season. "We want to have the ball, so we need to press quick, need to take the ball fast away from the opponent and after that just play and keep the ball."
Emotional St James' Park clash
It is guaranteed to be an emotional St James' Park with both sets of supporters coming together before kick-off to celebrate the life of Kevin Keegan, who died last month. Passions are sure to run high from the Magpies faithful towards Alexander Isak, with the striker making his first appearance at Newcastle since his contentious £125million move to Anfield last September.
Iraola has few real selection conundrums, with his main decision being which of Jacquet and Araujo lines up at centre-back with captain Virgil van Dijk. Rio Ngumoha, the matchwinner in this fixture last season, is favourite to start on the right flank.
Newcastle have had an even more testing summer than Liverpool, with the sale of key players such as Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes, along with a change in the dugout with Eddie Howe replaced by Matthias Jaissle. This afternoon is the first of six successive Premier League games in which the Reds come up against an opponent with a new boss.
"Obviously we have to focus more on ourselves because it's new for the players with the new manager and everything," added Kerkez. "I know how the manager works, what he wants, but the guys need some time and I think now we just need to focus on ourselves. Because if we do that, how he wants us to play, we are really, really dangerous."
