Real Madrid had formed a strong team but injuries messed up all their plans. They bought Mbappe and released Toni Kroos from their club last season to play Jude Bellingham in midfield. Valverde has problems, so Real Madrid's plan may be different in the upcoming matches.
Real Madrid have plenty of support players but without players on their bench who are at least as skilled as those who have performed in the starting XI in important matches, it will be challenging for them to win against any team. But the defense is still strong, so this defense is now the hope of Real Madrid.
I don’t think Real Madrid will only be relying on their defence only in order not to concede many goals or to win their matches. They are currently facing injury crisis but that is still not enough to think that Real Madrid won’t be able to make the best of their matches they’re going to be playing before this players will be back. They have shown some level of strength and ability to face all of their matches with the intent of winning and so far so good, I think they’re achieving that. Injury is not a set back to them, so we shouldn’t think less of them in any match.
If you look at Liverpool's games for the next 3 to 4 weeks, you can see that they have a match every 3 days and will play against very strong teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Leipzig or Leverkusen. It's going to be a very tough few weeks for the players and now it will really show whether the new coach has what it takes to replace Jürgen Klopp or whether it's too much for him and the team.
Every challenge that a coach is going to face, he should have prepared for it long time before the match takes place. He has no excuse not to win those matches because that is what he was employed for. He may not win all the match but if he can win at least 70% of the match, he’ll be said to be an excellent coach and the best choice for the team. He has a lot of tasks ahead of him, so he needs to be in his best managerial competitive spirit in order to win these matches. If he does well in them, he may even be seen as a more better manager than Jurgen Klopp.