Jurgen Klopp has claimed that Liverpool will be an even tougher proposition in the 2017-18 campaign, vowing to improve on his side's fourth-place finish of last season.
The Reds finished in the top four of the Premier League last term for just the second time in eight years, setting up a Champions League qualifier for the middle of next month.
Klopp admits that the pressure is on Liverpool to overcome their as-yet-unknown opponents in that two-legged match, with the draw to take place on August 4, but the German remains confident of building on what can be considered a relatively successful campaign last time out.
"We all know in a few weeks we have these qualifiers and there will be pressure on the game," he told the club's official website. "But now we have the time to prepare for this and we have to use the basis we created last year - it was not too bad.
"We all know it could have been maybe a little bit better but it could have been much worse. We are now one of the top four teams in England so now we want to keep this situation and work with it and improve.
"The squad will be stronger this year than it was last year. That's a real reason for real optimism."
Liverpool have so far brought in Dominic Solanke and Mohamed Salah from Chelsea and Roma respectively in the summer transfer window for a combined fee of around £37m.
Daniel Lewis
