Premier League: Liverpool face huge challenges in their quest to emulate last season's success

Brendan Rodgers has a lot to ponder this summer

With the departure of Luis Suarez and a greater expectation on the Reds this season, including a tilt back in the Champions League, Luke Moore feels the time may be right to oppose Brendan Rodgers' men for a Top 5 Premier League berth...

How do you replace the irreplaceable? That's the question that's presumably been keeping Brendan Rodgers awake at night these past few weeks, since the most precious of his 'group' flew the nest for sunnier climes down in Catalunya.

He has so far, sensibly, looked to strengthen the team in general rather than look for one superstar player that will slot ably into the talented Uruguayan's role, but in a world of increased expectations and a lack of serious goalscoring potential outside Daniel Sturridge (Rickie Lambert has a total of 28 top-flight goals in a 16 year career, six of which have come from the penalty spot - a responsibility he is unlikely to have at Liverpool), there will need to be a serious re-organisation of how the Northern Irishman gets his team to perform consistently without a player who has serious claims to be the world's best forward.

But it is not just in forward areas that Rodgers' men have problems. They conceded goals with alarming regularity last season and had the tendency to switch off at key moments before relying on their forwards to bail them out of trouble. A worrying habit. In addition to this, the manager hasn't yet proved himself to be adept at signing defensive players - not one of his rearguard acquisitions in either defence or defensive midfield has proven themselves consistent at the level he wants them to operate at - and so there is nothing currently to suggest he can plug the gaps. And if you remove 31 league goals from your team, the defensive side becomes instantly much more important.

Rodgers will also be wary of a huge influx of new players at the same time, in light of what befell Andre Villas-Boas and Tottenham Hotspur just last season. For a manager whose record in the market is hit and miss so far, he will be desperate to get it right. Assimilating new personnel into his squad won't be easy and could present even more hurdles to be overcome for a man who is still relatively inexperienced in the management game.

There is also the small matter of a Champions League campaign to navigate. Those Redmen benefitted hugely from having a break just about every midweek throughout the season when all their rivals were carting themselves all over Europe, and Liverpool's squad remains relatively light in numbers, especially experienced numbers and even more so when compared to some of their rivals. They won't have the luxury of much rest this time around.

In a post-Suarez world, Liverpool now find themselves almost overwhelmed with the challenges that await them this season - a Champions League campaign, a serious tilt at the Premier League title in an increasingly crowded marketplace, an improvement in the domestic cup competitions, the replacement of a 30+-a-season striker of world class pedigree and repairing a leaky defence which saw them concede 51 goals in the league (the worst of the top five teams by a distance).

In light of all this it would not be a surprise to see them fall far short of expectations domestically and the likes of Everton taking advantage and pipping them for fifth place. Laying them for a Top 5 finish at a horrendously slim 1.330/100 price seems a sensible, and relatively low risk bet at this stage of the summer.