Chris Waddle does not believe Liverpool have improved from last season and has tipped the Reds to continue to struggle against sides in the bottom half of the Premier League.
Liverpool took on Watford at Vicarage Road in their opening league fixture on Saturday, but had to make do with a 3-3 draw following a poor defensive display.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp named Simon Mignolet in goal, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alberto Moreno as full-backs, and Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren as centre-backs, shunning the chance to sign reinforcements of starting quality in the transfer window.
Klopp's men did well against top four rivals last term, but struggled against teams they were widely tipped to beat – and Waddle has predicted the same story on the basis of their display at Watford.
He said on BBC Radio 5 live: "Liverpool look exactly the same as last season.
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"Going forward they'll exploit gaps, they've got pace with people like [Sadio] Mane and [Mohamed] Salah. They will be good on the counter attack against the good sides – I think they'll get good results.
"But I think the bottom eight, nine teams, who will sit back a bit and make them work hard, will catch them out.
"It was similar last season and I think it will happen again this season", he added.
Liverpool boss Klopp has continually refused to make extensive changes to his defence despite having now been at Anfield since October 2015 and had four transfer windows to work in.
It remains to be seen if he will dip into the market in the remaining weeks of the current window.
