NEW KOP ANTHEM IS NIL BY MOUTH

JORDAN HENDERSON says Liverpool are so determined to defend their Premier League crown that they haven’t even talked about winning it in the first place.

A year ago Kop boss Jurgen Klopp banned talk of Champions League glory during pre-season because he did not want his stars to rest on their laurels. This summer the German hasn’t had to dish out orders – Henderson said a first top-flight title in 30 years for the Merseyside giants has not even been mentioned

“To be honest, we haven’t spoken about the title,” the Anfield skipper (above, with the Premier League trophy) said.

“It’s more: ‘Have you enjoyed your holiday?’

“We’ve been cracking on, really working hard. New season, new start and a lot more things we want to go on and achieve. I’m really excited to see what we can do this season because it’s another big season for us.

“Hopefully we can take confidence from the last year or two but we need to stay hungry and need to keep the desire to go and want more.

“I can certainly see that from the first days that I’ve watched training in pre-season.”

Liverpool start their new campaign tomorrow with a Community Shield showdown against Arsenal.

Henderson won’t be involved. He is not expected to return to full training until next week because of a knee injury picked up late last season.

But he will hope to be ready to start the defence of their Premier League title against Leeds two weeks tomorrow.

And he warned the rest of the league that the Reds are looking to improve despite running away with the title last season. “You’ve got to look at the players in the squad and the manager as well, it’s always about looking forward and wanting more and improving,” he said. “Pre-season is no different. You know you’ve got to train so hard to be ready for the first game of the season, which for us comes against Arsenal in the Community Shield – so a little bit earlier than everybody else.

“We’ve got to be right at it come that first game and we’ve got another chance to win silverware.

“The Premier League starts pretty quick after that so you need to be ready. By the looks of it, we are.”

Liverpool and Arsenal last met in the Community Shield in 2002, Arsenal winning 1-0.