Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has told talkSPORT 'it remains to be seen' if Jurgen Klopp's side have improved ahead of the new season.
The Reds get their Premier League campaign underway in less than two weeks' time against newly promoted Fulham, and all eyes will be on whether they can keep pace with their rivals.
Liverpool boss Klopp has been hard at work getting his new-look team firing this summer
Klopp faces an almost impossible task to maintain Liverpool's levels, which have been sky high for so long now.
For pessimistic fans out there it so often appears a matter of time before the Reds drop off, and yet they keep battling at the top domestically and in Europe time and time again, with the Klopp's men hungry to turn their success into more trophies.
They will enter the new season with the same goal as every one that has come before - to win every competition they play - having come so close to doing precisely that last term, collecting the FA Cup and Carabao Cup but just falling short of winning the Premier League and Champions League.
There is plenty of intrigue ahead of the new top flight campaign with many of the top teams shaking up their sides, with Liverpool no exception as they have traded key man Sadio Mane for bright young talent Darwin Nunez.
The Uruguayan struggled to get off the mark but finally delivered with a hat-trick in a friendly against RB Leipzig, and fans will be hoping there is more to come from their new frontman.
Nunez has been one of the big talking points of the summer and, although Carragher is excited to see how he will fit in Klopp's Liverpool machine, he is on the fence about how it will work after changing up their much-loved front-three.
Nunez opened his Liverpool account with four goals against Leipzig
The new striker will be tasked filling the void left by ex-Reds star Mane
Asked if Liverpool have improved this summer, the Anfield legend told Drivetime: "I think that remains to be seen.
"When you lose someone like Sadio Mane, who has been so pivotal for four or five years and you're bringing in a sort of unknown quantity in Nunez…
"He looks a top player and has great pedigree, he's a great age, and Liverpool did need to bring the average age of that front-three down - it's been Salah, Firmino and Mane for so long and they're all just getting into their 30s. Someone was going to move on sooner or later.
"It's difficult to say they look stronger right now, considering how good Mane was, certainly in the second half of last season.
"But I'm really excited to see how they evolve with Nunez. He's a real out-and-out centre-forward and Klopp has never really played with someone of that profile at Liverpool, so it would be really interesting to see the change of the dynamics of the team, and if it makes Liverpool better, who knows?"
Liverpool look in decent shape ahead of the new season, despite their embarrassing defeat to Man United
Liverpool's pre-season has been a mixed bag so far, although they have recovered from a nightmare start against Manchester United - losing 4-0 in Thailand - to record wins over Crystal Palace and Leipzig.
The Reds team have been training in Austria since their return from the East, and have a friendly against Red Bull Salzburg before taking on Man City in the Community Shield on Saturday, July 30, and then one final game against Strasbourg before the league kicks off.
Carragher admits you shouldn't put too much emphasis on pre-season form, but says there's no better feeling than entering a new season on a high.
"It's easy to downplay pre-season games when they don't go well, but having been a player, I can say that the results mean nothing, because it all gets decided in that first game of the season," he added.
Liverpool legend Carragher joined talkSPORT on Drive
"If you win, it doesn't matter if you get beat in pre-season. But as a player and manager there is nothing better than winning and playing well in pre-season, it builds confidence.
"I can understand when the results get written off, and I don't think we should get too carried away, but the closer we get to the start of the season and a manager starting playing what he thinks would be his first XI, I do think players and manager do take a lot more stock in those results and performance.
"You saw the reaction of Thomas Tuchel after the Arsenal game, and I think Klopp was a little bit different after Liverpool lost 4-0 to Man United - that was slightly different, Liverpool played three different teams that day - but I admired Tuchel's reaction.
"You're still playing for Chelsea and you're playing Arsenal, I know it's a pre-season friendly, but it's still a big game and they shouldn't be getting beat 4-0 two weeks before the start of the season.
"I don't think we should get massively carried away with pre-season, but I admired how seriously he took that."
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