There are plenty of ways to diagnose what went wrong for Liverpool last season, but sometimes it takes an old striker to cut straight to it. Fernando Morientes, a man who knows a thing or two about both this club and Real Madrid, has identified the core problem plainly and simply: Liverpool stopped being hard to beat. And until that changes, the title is not coming back to Merseyside.

The numbers do not lie. Fifty-three goals conceded across 38 Premier League matches. That is Liverpool's worst defensive record in a full top-flight season under the current format. For a club whose greatest sides have always been built on a bedrock of defensive steel, it was not just disappointing. It was embarrassing. The kind of record that costs managers their jobs, and it cost Arne Slot his.

Morientes, who made 16 appearances for the Reds in the mid-2000s, puts it with the kind of authority that comes from having played for two of the biggest clubs on the planet. "The Liverpool teams that have won the league have always defended very well and then had players who made the difference," he said. "That is what Liverpool need to find again, a team that defends solidly, with defensive leaders, so they can then finish games off with the quality of their attacking players."

He is not wrong. Think about the periods when this club was genuinely feared. Opponents did not fancy coming to Anfield because getting anything out of the match felt like hard work from the first whistle. That reputation was earned through organisation, through leaders at the back who set the tone, through a collective defensive mentality that ran through the entire squad. Last season, that mentality had clearly gone missing somewhere.

Morientes summed up the frustration with admirable directness. "They have always had very talented attackers and scored lots of goals, but this year they have been very inconsistent defensively and that has hurt them." Hurt them is right. A fifth-place finish and the narrowest of Champions League qualifications is not where Liverpool should be. It is survival mode dressed up in red.

So the job now falls to Andoni Iraola. The new head coach inherits a squad that needs reshaping at the back, and the summer business already in motion reflects that reality. Ibrahima Konate has departed on a free transfer, heading to Real Madrid, which means the defensive rebuild is already under way whether Liverpool like it or not. Coming in is Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes, a £60million investment, while 19-year-old Giovanni Leoni is expected to be fit having missed virtually the entire last campaign through injury. New voices, new bodies, and potentially a new defensive identity. Iraola will need all of it.

The other thread running through the Morientes interview is Trent Alexander-Arnold, now at Real Madrid after leaving last summer. Konate's arrival at the Bernabeu means he will link up with his former Liverpool colleague. Morientes was measured but honest when asked how Alexander-Arnold has settled in Spain.

"It has been difficult," he said. "I have seen several English players come to Real Madrid who did not fully settle in their first season. A lot was expected of him from the start. Some players adapt quickly, others need a second or third season. I do not think he has fully adapted yet or shown his best version. Not just because of him, but also because of the team as a whole. When the team does not achieve its objectives, individual players find it harder to shine. He is very talented, but he still needs to reach his top level."

There is no bitterness there from Morientes, who spent almost eight years at Real Madrid himself before making the move to Liverpool. Just an honest assessment from someone who understands what that club demands of its players. Alexander-Arnold may yet prove himself in Spain. But that is Madrid's concern now. Liverpool's concern is what they build in his absence.

And that brings everything back to Iraola. He arrives at a club with real attacking quality already in place, a passionate support desperate to see the title return, and a glaring defensive problem that needs addressing before anything else. Morientes has said it. The stats have confirmed it. The fans have felt it all season long.

The attacking players are there to win matches. Iraola's first and most urgent task is to build a Liverpool side that stops losing them. Get that right, and the rest could follow quickly.