Let's not dress it up. Last season was a disaster. Liverpool entered the 2025/26 campaign as defending Premier League champions, having spent somewhere in the region of £450 million and broken the British transfer record on two separate occasions. They finished fifth. Twenty-five points behind Arsenal. Winning 17, losing 12. It was, by most measures, one of the worst title defences this competition has ever seen.

Only two sides have managed fewer points as defending champions in Premier League history — Leicester City with 44 in 2016/17, and Chelsea with 50 in 2015/16. That is the bracket Liverpool now find themselves associated with. That stings. It should sting.

Arne Slot paid the price, as managers inevitably do when things fall apart that spectacularly. Andoni Iraola has since been named as his successor, arriving at Anfield with the unenviable task of picking up a club that lost three key players on free transfers in Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate, has Hugo Ekitike and Conor Bradley sidelined through long-term injury, and has so far made just one signing in Victor Munoz — with a pre-agreed deal for Jeremy Jacquet also in the pipeline.

The situation is far from ideal. Iraola himself has already said as much publicly. But here is the thing about football: context matters, precedent matters, and history — if you look hard enough — occasionally offers something that resembles hope.

Since the Premier League began in 1992/93, a side has gone on to reclaim the title at the first attempt on nine occasions. The majority of those, as you would expect, belong to the eras of Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola. Dynasties tend to bounce back because dynasties are built for exactly that. But two of the three most recent examples came under entirely new management. That is the detail worth holding onto.

Chelsea won the title under Jose Mourinho in 2014/15. By December of the following season, Mourinho was gone and Chelsea were mired in what was, at that point, the worst Premier League title defence ever recorded. Enter Antonio Conte. What followed was nothing short of remarkable. The Londoners racked up 93 points — the second-highest tally in the competition's history at the time — won 30 matches, setting a new record, and put together a run of 13 consecutive victories to equal another. Title reclaimed, first attempt, new manager. It had never looked likely. It happened anyway.

The other case belongs to Manchester City in 2013/14. Roberto Mancini had delivered their first ever Premier League title in 2011/12 but lost his job the following May after the club cited a failure to hit its stated targets and the need to develop what they described as a holistic approach to all aspects of football. Manuel Pellegrini came in and, at the first attempt, won the league — edging Liverpool by just two points in a title race that will be forever remembered for a Steven Gerrard slip on the Anfield turf and a remarkable surrender of a three-goal lead at Crystal Palace. Pellegrini also guided City into the Champions League knockout stages for the first time and delivered two trophies in a single season for the first time since 1969/70.

Now, let us be honest about the scale of the comparison here. Pellegrini's City backed their new manager with £91 million in recruitment, bringing in Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo, Steven Jovetic and Martin Demichelis. Conte's Chelsea spent £118 million on Michy Batshuayi, N'Golo Kante, Marcos Alonso and David Luiz. Those are squads that were actively strengthened ahead of a title challenge. Liverpool, right now, are working from a considerably thinner position.

The squad has been weakened, not strengthened, by the summer so far. Three established international players have departed without a penny coming back through the door. Two others are unavailable through injury. The new manager has had a week with his squad. The season kicks off on 23 August. There is a lot of work still to do and not a great deal of time to do it.

Iraola has already acknowledged the challenge publicly. That is actually the right instinct — no point pretending otherwise. Arsenal head into 2026/27 as reigning champions and clear favourites. Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur will all be pushing. Nobody is going to hand Liverpool anything.

But here is what those Chelsea and City precedents do confirm: a new manager, inheriting a club in disarray after a collapsed title defence, absolutely can turn things around quickly. It is not the way to bet. It is not even close to the expected outcome. But it has happened, within recent memory, under similar circumstances.

The recruitment picture will define everything. If Liverpool can move quickly and decisively in the transfer market, Iraola has something to work with. If the squad remains as it currently stands come the end of August, the season becomes about consolidation and little else.

The blueprint exists. Whether Liverpool have the means and the urgency to follow it is the question the next few weeks will answer.