Not panicking. Not doom-posting. But if I'm being honest about where things stand heading into a new season, there's more than one thing genuinely worth losing sleep over right now.
This isn't manufactured pre-season anxiety. Virgil van Dijk, at 35, is currently the only fit senior centre-back at the club. Giovanni Leoni tore his ACL in his first appearance after a £26m move. Jeremy Jacquet hasn't played since early 2026. Joe Gomez lasted eight minutes against Sunderland before going down. Iraola called this squad "very thin" defensively before any of that injury pile-up even happened. Whatever gets sorted before the season starts, this is not the position of defensive strength a club with Liverpool's ambitions should be starting a new managerial era from.
Curtis Jones has the boyhood-club story that should make him a natural leadership candidate. Instead, pre-season has produced a public armband dispute with Szoboszlai and Tsimikas, a contract situation that's reportedly heading toward him rejecting a new deal, and genuine transfer speculation linking him elsewhere. Whatever's happening in that dressing room, it doesn't look settled — and identity and leadership matter more during a managerial transition, not less.
Ticket prices rising again — a fifth increase in six seasons, according to Spirit of Shankly — landing at the exact moment the defensive depth question is at its most acute doesn't read well, regardless of the actual reasoning behind either decision independently. John Henry telling reporters that criticism just means "you work harder" is a fine sentiment when results back it up. Right now, with the questions piling up before a ball's even been kicked competitively, that patience is being tested harder than it has in years.
To be fair to the club: Isak arrived for a British-record fee and looked sharp at the World Cup. The academy pipeline — Ngumoha, Morrison, Abe — is producing genuine talent faster than expected. Iraola's early tactical signals, for all the defensive uncertainty, suggest a clear identity is coming. None of this is a club in freefall. It's a club with real, specific, fixable problems that haven't been fixed yet, arriving all at once, right before the moment they most need to be settled.
Worried isn't the same as pessimistic. I still think this season could genuinely surprise people. But anyone telling you there's nothing to be concerned about right now isn't being straight with you — and I'd rather be honest about it than pretend everything's fine because the shirt's still red.