Jordan Henderson has dismissed claims that Liverpool may suffer from some sort of ‘hangover’ following their disappointing finish to the previous campaign.
The Reds lifted both domestic cups but were pipped to the Premier League title by Manchester City by a single point and were then defeated in the Champions League final by Real Madrid shortly after.
The former Sunderland man is confident that he and his teammates can react well heading into the new campaign and believes ‘hard work and togetherness’ is imperative if the Anfield outfit are to taste more success this term.
“We have had disappointments in the past and we didn’t have hangovers. We have always reacted in the right way,” he told The Athletic.
“We still won two trophies last year so it’s not all negative. It was a fantastic season. Yes, it didn’t end the way we would have liked but that’s football, that’s life, you get on with it and react in the right way and we just want to go again and perform.
“You are always motivated to win the biggest trophies. We want to be successful. We managed to win two last year. It didn’t end the way we would have liked in the other two but we pushed all the way and gave everything.
“I never think it will be just us and (Manchester) City. You look at Chelsea, they are strengthening, United will strengthen, Spurs have done so quite a lot so far. We have bought some new players in and hopefully, they can help us going forward and freshen things up. To perform to the levels we are capable of it comes down to hard work and togetherness and that starts right now in pre-season.”
It was painful to miss out on the two big trophies last term, but we still had two great days out at Wembley and picking up both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup means that Jurgen Klopp has now won every major trophy possible at the club.
Both us and City have dominated the Premier League in recent years.
We’ve made up the top two in three of the previous four seasons and the rest of the top-flight simply haven’t been able to maintain pace with us.
Chelsea, who are expected to challenge for the title this term, finished third last season and a whopping 18 points behind Liverpool.
Many are expecting us and Pep Guardiola’s side to battle it out once again at the top, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out!