By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 06 September 06.

It seems like it was only a few weeks ago that we were all wrapped up and totally absorbed by the events in Germany during World Cup 2006. Actually, it was only a few weeks ago if you think about it (eight if you want to be precise). Anyway, it’s time to put all of that insignificant nonsense behind us and get back to the really important stuff; and of course I mean Liverpool FC.

At the end of last season, Rafa made it clear that he wanted to sign some new players and stated that he would like to have the new signings completed before the start of the World Cup. That makes a lot of sense as a player’s value can go up dramatically if he performs well on the world stage. But then again, we all have bad memories of seeing a couple of outstanding Senegalese players at Japan/Korea 2002, and then learning that we had already signed them just prior to the tournament. The less said about those two the better. This time around, we had no players signed before the World Cup (unless you count Paletta and Gonzalez, who were already signed but hadn’t played yet). But, we were certainly linked with quite a few. I won’t bore you with all the details; again it’s a case of the less said the better. What we should be concerned with is how our new players like Bellamy, Aurelio, Pennant, Kuyt, and of course Paletta and Gonzalez, will fit into the squad, and how they’ll help us to beat the stranglehold on the League that Chel$ki appear to have. I say that Chel$ki appear to have a stranglehold because there are signs that they are ready to collapse just enough to let someone else take the title this season, and there’s a good chance that the someone else could be us.

Our season started with the usual routine of seeing who we would have to play in the Champions League third and final qualifying round. That turned out to be Maccabi Haifa, and just as a change from the previous two years, we would start this one at home. I had the pleasure of watching this one almost in its entirety by watching on a computer with a friend who has an e-season ticket. The first shock was to realise that just after I’d sat down to watch after missing the first 30 minutes that Bellamy’s goal, from a Pennant cross, was an equaliser! We didn’t look all that impressive and we looked as though we were a little bit lucky to be holding on to the 1-1 result. At least it looked that way until just before the final whistle, when Mark Gonzalez scored after controlling the ball in the six yard box by the near post, and then instead of laying it off to an incoming player as I expected, turned quickly and put the ball into the roof of the net. A 2-1 win at the end of a hard fought match. The qualifying rounds shouldn’t be this hard should they? Looking back on our last two seasons, we lost our home leg of those third rounds, so this has to be an improvement, right? Let’s hope so as the second leg is scheduled for a couple of weeks away, and we don’t know where it will be played yet. The term “potential banana skin” seemed really appropriate for this one.

That Champions League opener was just an appetiser for a much bigger test a few days later. After some confusion over will they or won’t they, Fox Sportsworld Canada decided to show the game live after all. And so it was that a few of the faithful Vancouver Reds converged on LSPH early on that Sunday morning to see us play Chel$ki for the Community Shield. The first shock of the day was seeing the starting line-up. Crouch and Garcia up front without Bellamy? Gerrard and Alonso on the bench, not in midfield? Just what is Rafa doing here? The panic subsided as soon as the game was underway and it was only a matter of minutes before we were celebrating Riise’s pitch-length run and 30 yard shot to give us a 1-0 lead. That should have stood until half-time, but a momentary lapse in concentration allowed Shevchenko, the gazillion dollar man from Milan, to break the offside trap and finally score one against us. Strangely enough it didn’t really upset me all that much. I could see how we were dominating the match and that surely we would come out in the second half and win it. I was almost eating those words when Aurelio, another new player who came on to replace Gonzalez, passed a precise ball down the left to Bellamy, who in turn spotted Crouch unmarked at the far post. There was only going to be one outcome there – Crouch is already in scoring form after a great confidence boosting performance in Germany. The shield was ours but probably more important was the psychological advantage of showing Chel$ki that we can beat them with an almost all-reserve side. Of course Moronio didn’t see it that way and was complaining that his players were not yet in condition to play a competitive match. I thought it was a manager’s job to see that the players are match fit and ready to play. No excuses, we thumped you, so stop whining and go ask Uncle Roman for more money.

Our first League match of the new season came six days later. A trip to Sheffield United should be an easy three points for the FA Cup holders against the newly promoted club. But, it’s not always so easy; Liverpool have had problems with these supposedly easy fixtures in the past, and added to that is the ominous fact that Liverpool haven’t won at Bramall lane in decades. Sheffield United came out like a team on fire, and were in real danger of outplaying, outworking, and completely outsmarting us in every aspect of the game. As the match unfolded, my only hope was that the adrenalin would wear off for those guys and we’d be ready to pounce when it did. In the end, we were lucky to come out with a point, after Robbie Fowler equalised from a dubious penalty call (was Gerrard tripped or did he just lose his balance?). It’s not something to be proud of, but sometimes you just have to take what you can get out of a game. A much bigger concern was the loss of both Jamie Carragher and John Arne Riise to injury. Let’s hope the injuries are not serious and we’ll see them back soon.

There were many who were ready to write us off after that performance, but let’s keep in mind that “one game doth not a season make”. Rafa had gambled on putting out an understrength squad in favour of keeping players rested for that trip to Kiev. We must come out on top of that, or we could be out of the Champions League. The embarrassment would be one thing; the financial loss of not making it would be a lot worse.

Haifa was ruled out as a suitable venue for the second leg due to the “problems” in the region, and so Kiev was chosen as the neutral site. We went there knowing how important this game was, but also knowing that they had to beat us, without the advantage of being at home. Once again I joined up with another member and watched the match with the benefit of his e-season ticket. We should have had the game wrapped up by half time, with Garcia on a hat trick of excellent chances. It wasn’t until an hour had passed when Pennant made a run down the right and crossed the ball neatly to Crouch to put home. 3-1 on aggregate, and that should be it. That wasn’t the end though, as the Israelis equalised and then piled on the pressure as they went for a second to force extra time. Reina was outstanding, making several acrobatic saves to keep us in the lead on aggregate, and we managed to hold on to the final whistle and entry to the Champions League group stage. More injuries came out of this match, with Sissoko and Warnock being the victims in this one. Again, let’s hope the injuries are not serious and we’ll see them back soon.

The relief of making it into Europe lifted a huge weight off the shoulders of everyone at the club. Now we can concentrate on the League for a while, starting with our home opener against West Ham. Before the match started, a mosaic on the Kop celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the famous terrace/stand. It’s almost the same period of time since West Ham have had any success at Anfield, and so we should be feeling confident going into this one. What ensued was one of the most entertaining games we’ve seen for a long time. West Ham were out for some form of revenge and must have thought that the timing couldn’t be better with our long injury list.

The fast pace of the match, especially from Pennant and Bellamy, was exciting to watch, but it was also frustrating to see all the missed chances. Crouch, Bellamy, Garcia, and Gerrard all came close with excellent chances, but we somehow fell behind against the run of play. When Bobby Zamora misfired them into the lead with a mis-hit cross that caught Reina out, they must have thought that this was going to be their day. The flukes at Cardiff that almost but not quite gave them the FA Cup just might be enough this time. What they didn’t take into account was that “This is Anfield” and that during the Kop’s long history we’ve seen teams fool themselves before. Out of nowhere, Daniel Agger followed up the field as another wave of Reds attacked the Kop end. Then, finding himself in the clear, with the ball at his feet and totally unchallenged, he unleashed a spiralling shot that just flew between the defenders and the left hand post. I can’t do any better than to repeat the commentator’s words that “that one had swazz on it.”

That was the turning point of the match, and with the momentum now well and truly back in our favour, we continued to attack. It was inevitable that we would take the lead and we did so only three minutes later, just before half time. Gerrard to Garcia to Crouch, in one of the best close-quarter passing plays of the game, allowed Crouch to touch the ball forward precisely for himself to run onto and tap around the stranded Roy Carrol and into the net. With his five (yes five) goals in three games for England since the World Cup, and his three in five games for Liverpool, the man must now be acknowledged as a genuine scoring machine.

The second half produced plenty of chances for both sides but no goals. The main talking point of the second half has to be the debut of our newest (and for now our last) signing of this season, Dirk Kuyt. His work rate is second to none, and even though he failed to score from the chances that he had,it was obvious why Rafa was so determined to bring him in. It’s true that he didn’t shine at the World Cup, but it should be noted that he was preferred over Ruud boy, and in fact scored today in Holland’s Euro 2008 qualifier. I’m looking forward to his performances in the Champions League, especially in the opening match against one of his old enemies - PSV Eindhoven.

The story so far then is: played five, won three, drawn two, lost none. That’s better than the equivalent start to last season where we won three, drew one and lost one. The biggest difference this season is that we’ve already conceded one goal per game, which is more than the three from the first five games last season. On the other hand, we’ve scored eight compared with seven. Of course this is only the beginning; to use a well worn cliché, the Premier League is not a sprint but a marathon. Only about 36 more games to go before we can say if we have made further progress over last year. We also have the matter of 6 Champions League group stage games before mid-December, as well as entry into the League Cup. It’s only been a few weeks, but it seems like it’s taken a long time for the season to finally arrive. It’s going to be a busy schedule, but at least we don’t have the distraction of a trip to Japan this year. I’m not going to make any predictions for this year, other than to say that we should be all set for a very entertaining season yet to come.

What do you think? Give Keith your comments at Keith [at] lfcvancouver.com.

By LFC Vancouver member Mark Aston, 19 August 06.

As each season approaches all fans share a renewed sense of optimism. Some fans extrapolate a late run of good form at the end of the season into a future potential assault on the championship, while others look for a fresh start to wipe away previously moribund performances.

So what of Liverpool for 2006/07? Legitimate contenders or merely pretenders flattering to deceive?

Before I answer that question let’s look back to a year ago, August 2005. Liverpool were coming off a momentous Champions League victory against AC Milan that not only provided a shot of confidence, but also showed that while we may not have had the consistent quality to win a Premiership title, we at least had quality… and grit.

Coming into the 2005/06 season saw a changing of some of the Houllier guard: Smicer, Biscan, Baros, and essentially Dudek, amongst others, vacating their starting roles and replaced by the likes of, Reina, Sissoko, and most controversially of all Peter Crouch. Liverpool’s most important acquisition however, was re-signing Steven Gerrard. Interestingly enough a lot of Rafa’s signings last year were at the reserve and youth level. No small coincidence that we went on to win the F.A Youth Cup. Remember the days when Liverpool Reserves walked away with the Central League year after year – the same years we often also won the Championship too.

While optimism was generally high for Liverpool coming into last season, it was realistically tempered. No one but the most optimistic fan really believed that Liverpool would overhaul the huge points deficit between them and Chelski from the season before, however general consensus held that solid improvement was afoot, and was proved correct. Although a Premiership title was too much to ask, the point gap with Chelski was reduced significantly, and Arsenal at least were leapfrogged, with Man Utd proving to be only a point too far.

The 2005/06 campaign saw improvement across the board, including an improved consistency of play and a greater attacking fluidity, but to bridge the gulf more quality was required.

First order of business was to sign a replacement for Cisse – everyone knew he was going but how Rafa must wish he’d sold him a week or two before the World Cup rather than waiting. A replacement duly arrived in the form of diminutive, but feisty, Craig Bellamy. A player who has been hated by opposing fans for years (often a compliment) but one who has an affliction for also being hated just as much by his managers. Last year saw some real signs of maturity on the football field and some flashes of pure genius by Bellamy at a middling Premier League club. While Cisse has pace, Bellamy has pace and trickery, and is also agile – Cisse is too one dimensional for Rafa. Bellamy will offer much more and is more akin to Owen in terms of his pace and his finishing in the penalty area. A combination of Bellamy and Crouch or newly signed Kuyt, with Fowler providing some cameo appearances, could prove to be mouthwatering.

Indeed one of the pluses for Liverpool this season should be the emergence of Peter Crouch. In the run up to the World Cup and with his appearances in the tournament, he showed a coming of age on the international scene that can only aid his confidence on the Premiership stage.

So while Rafa managed to secure and bolster the front line having ‘lost’ Cisse, the revenue lost by Cisse’s horrible injury was felt most by our right side of midfield. Without the extra cash, instead of being able to bring in a Daniel Alves or Simao – both who would have been in the £10-14M range – one had to settle for an expensive (at half the cost) Jermaine Pennant.

Although Daniel Agger was signed midway through last season to replace Hyypia, it seems more time is required if he is to make the grade. Certainly pre-season and 60 mins or so against Sheffield United has shown that he has much promise. Just in case however, in cometh Paletta, a hard-nosed Argentine central defender, but someone who also has youth on his side. Not someone who likely will step in Hyypia’s shoes in a big way this year, but who may fill in a few games and who will compete with Agger for the starting role in a year or two’s time.

Liverpool also managed to secure the requisite visa for Gonzalez to ensure Liverpool have representation from 3 South American countries. Rafa has been raving about his qualities for over a year now, so a sense of anticipation is clearly in order.

The signing of Liverpool’s first Brazilian may have been the biggest surprise of all. With Riise and Warnock on the left side we seemed to be capably attired. Even though we managed finally to offload Traore to Charlton, us fans were happy enough at just culling another of the Houllier ‘never quite made it group’. However in Fabio Aurelio, Liverpool appear to have signed a player in the mould of a Roberto Carlos rather than a Tommy Smith. A better passer than Xabi Alonso one report said, and a maestro at free kicks said another. Against Sheffield United he showed some real quality. Seeing him bomb down the left ala Carlos a few times was great, although it didn’t quite make up for him neglecting Hulse on The Blades’ goal and only chance in the second half. Not something Tommy Smith would have let Hulse get away with. It clearly shows Rafa’s ambitions at improving the squad in all areas and his determination to add to the variety of weapons at the Reds disposal.

Exiting stage left this year in addition to Traore, was the dependable but aging Hamman, which shows how well the signings of Alonso and Sissoko have integrated into the team. Not long ago a midfield devoid of ‘The Kaiser’ was one that every Liverpool fan feared.

This brings us again to the question we are all pondering. Is this to be the year? Premiership contenders or pretenders flattering to deceive?

Three things to me point towards the former. Firstly Liverpool has improved in each of Rafa’s years in charge and further improvement is a realistic expectation for this coming season. Secondly although signing Reina and Sissoko last year proved to be two excellent pieces of business, large scale improvements to the squad last year were not seen. This year however Rafa has improved the squad more than he has at any time during his tenure.

Finally I think that Rafa believes we have a chance of winning it this year. Arsenal are still in transition and while they will be stronger and more consistent than last year, they have too much of a gap to make up. Man Utd on the other hand while closer, is a team in decline to all but Sir Alex. The Man Utd transition of the Giggs, Keane era is happening under a veil of denial that mistakenly believes that second-rate players such as Alan Smith, along with decent but not highly talented homegrown players (O’Shea, Fletcher) can overcome the largesse of Ambramovich.

And that leaves Chelski. Last year they seemed a highly disciplined team, which lacked the spark and quality that usually accompanies repeating champions. In cometh Shevcheko, and Ballack amongst others. Shevcheko should provide some improvement over Crespo. Ballack however will be competing for a spot with Essien, and Lampard. Although Lampard stuttered through the later half of last season, and a woeful World Cup won’t have helped matters, one finds it hard to think of Mourinho leaving out one of his talisman too often. Ballack may steal more time from Essien than Lampard, but either way the improvement in the team is likely marginal rather than transformational.

A combination of Liverpool’s consistent improvement, the cracks that have developed at Arsenal and Man Utd, and the potential stuttering or at the very least leveling off at Chelski, has Rafa believing we really do have a legitimate chance this year. A telling portent to Rafa’s faith is the signing of Jermaine Pennant. Rafa’s history has shown that he has always held to the motto of “slow to hire, fast to fire”. Witness those players who have looked like getting an intro to the Kop but never made it: Alves, Simao, Collochini, Milito…, and those who have been introduced and quickly departed: Josemi, Nunez, and Barragan. Despite scouring the leagues of Europe to fill our chasm at right midfield, Rafa had to compromise due to the lack of revenue from a Cisse transfer, and spent £6.7M on Jermaine Pennant. A player who (like Bellamy) has been controversial and in trouble throughout his career, however, who unlike Bellamy has not yet shown glimpses of changing it around. This signing is as close to a desperation signing as Rafa is ever likely to make and one has to ask why? Why now, why not last year, why not next year? The answer is simply that legitimate opportunities to win the English Premier League come around very, very rarely and Rafa believes that Liverpool have one this year. That’s why I believe Liverpool will overhaul Man Utd, and Arsenal (again) for sure – and just, just maybe Chelski too……….

What do you think? Fire us a reply and we'll get it to Mark.

By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 17 August 06.

Liverpool Football Club: The most successful football team in English history – FACT! So says the tagline of various supporters’ club websites and members’ e-mail signatures. Surely there’s no disputing Liverpool’s domination of the 1980’s, or even the 1970’s for that matter. Overall, from the club’s founding in 1892 to the end of the 20th century, no English club could equal the list of honours achieved by Liverpool FC. The list of trophies achieved in that time is impressive and unmatched by any other club: Eighteen League Championships, five FA Cups, five League Cups, four European Cups, and two UEFA Cups. Not to mention a long list of Charity Shields, and a UEFA Super Cup.

But, we can hear the critics cry: that was then, what about now? It’s been quite a long time since we were on top of the league at the end of a season. In fact we all know exactly how long; it’s simple arithmetic to count back to 1990. Our domination came to an abrupt end after that season, with a certain club in Manchester and another one from North London competing for the glory each year. A few years without silverware is normal for any successful club; it’s part of the natural cycle of decline and rejuvenation. For us, the difference between the 80’s and 90’s seemed like more than just a decline - more like a gradual decay into nothingness. Not that we were left completely empty handed; after all we did win one FA Cup and one League Cup during the first half of the decade - but then nothing at all for the latter half of the 90’s. Meanwhile, a few miles down the M62, the Premier League trophy was being presented with agonising regularity to another club, with the occasional presentation ceremony in North London to break the monotony.

The once mighty Liverpool FC were reduced to the role of bystanders as the trophies were being presented to our rivals. It wasn’t so long ago that we were one of the “big five” clubs that included Everton, Tottenham, Manchester United and Arsenal. As the 80’s passed into the 90’s, it started to become clear that most if not all of the big prizes would be shared amongst this elite group. Then, as the 90’s wound down toward the end of the second millennium, the major prizes seemed to be more likely to be shared between the “big two” of Arsenal and Manchester United. These pretenders made no secret of their desire to knock us out of our top position, with the abrasive Fergie even saying at a press conference that he was going to “knock us off our f***ing perch.” Slowly but surely, the gap in the number of trophies between ours and theirs was shrinking. This trend had to stop.

At some stage the long awaited rejuvenation must begin, and so it was that the new millennium brought newfound success for the Reds. The later stages of the 2000-01 season saw us competing on four fronts. The League Cup came first in March of 2001, followed a couple of months later with a stunning win in the FA Cup final over Arsenal. Within a week we had also picked up the UEFA cup, and then won our last league match of the season to clinch third place in the Premiership. That third place finish meant qualification for the Champions League (where we belong) the following season. Surely this is the return to the top that we’ve all been impatiently waiting for.

Everything looked good as the 2001-02 season progressed. In spite of several setbacks we reached the quarter finals of the Champions League and finished in second place in the Premier League. It was encouraging to realise that we were climbing up the table, one place at a time, each successive season.

Then came the 2002-03 season where we started off at a great pace with a 12 game unbeaten run, but a loss at Middlesbrough in unlucky game number 13 was when it all started to go wrong. The only consolation for that season was a League Cup victory over Manchester United, giving us automatic qualification for the UEFA Cup should we fail to make it into the top four by the end of the season (we finished fifth). We had been hoping for so much more by the end of that campaign, but it was not to be and we would have to wait at least until the following year.

The 2003-04 season was not a great success by any stretch of the imagination but we did manage to reach the “minimum acceptable” target of fourth place and qualification for the Champions League. It was now time for the critics to come out in numbers and declare the official end to the once mighty Liverpool F.C. It was widely believed that we were lucky to have reached the lofty height of second place, and would not be capable of achievements on that scale again. The Liverpool Board had run out of patience by now and the search was already on for a new manager well before the season ended. It had only taken three years for Gerard Houllier to go from hero to zero in the eyes of the supporters and the board of directors. First we said merci and au revoir to Monsieur Houllier, and then we said hola and bienvenida to Rafa Benitez. The enthusiastic appointment of senor Benitez hopefully meant that this would now really mean a new era of success for Liverpool.

Who would have thought that we would reach two cup finals in that first season under Benitez, losing the League Cup but winning the more important Champions League? As if that wasn’t enough, we started last season with the UEFA Super Cup and finished in style with an FA Cup win (our seventh) while finishing third in the league. For the 2006-07 season, we have already picked up a trophy by winning the Community Shield and we can be excused for feeling confident for the season ahead.

The constantly nagging problem is that we haven’t won the League Championship since 1990. Or, even worse, we are frequently reminded that we have never won the Premier League since its inception in 1992. That’s the one we want to win more than any other, and it’s the sole reason why we never quite feel satisfied with most of the others. Are we now just a fringe club, lucky to pick up the odd piece of minor silverware while watching others pick up the major ones, or are we still considered one of the elite group of big clubs? Just as the early years of the new millennium saw the “big two” become the “big three” with the addition of Chelsea and their new billionaire owner, can we now consider ourselves part of a “big four”? It would certainly seem that way with the majority of the domestic trophies being shared between those top four clubs. But, the big question then is: are we still an also-ran because of our failure to take the League or, are we possibly not just the most successful football club in English history, but possibly the most successful football club in England so far this millennium? Let’s take a look at the facts and see how we measure up.

The first item to be considered is: when does the new millennium actually begin? Well, the correct answer is January 1st, 2001. So we will only consider trophies won since that date. We’re obviously off to a good start with the treble at the end of the 200-01 season, plus the addition of a charity shield and a UEFA Super Cup. But now that we have gone through the end of six seasons, how do we stand in comparison to the rest of the “big four?” The list is given below with the number of times each club has won each trophy.

	LIVERPOOL	ARSENAL	MAN UTD	CHELSEA
Premier League	0	2	2	2
FA Cup	2	3	1	0
League Cup	2	0	1	1
Charity Shield	2	2	1	1
Champions League	1	0	0	0
UEFA Cup	1	0	0	0
UEFA Super Cup	2	0	0	0
Total	10	7	5	4

The first interesting point to note is that the only domestic trophy to be picked up by a club outside of the big four is the League Cup (Blackburn in 2002 and Middlesbrough in 2004). The next interesting point is that the only European success is in the first column under Liverpool. No other English club has had success in Europe, in spite of Arsenal and Middlesbrough, respectively, reaching the Champions League and UEFA Cup finals in 2006.

So how does this prove anything? Well the most obvious is to add up how many trophies have been won by each club and see who comes out ahead. The result of that is given in the last row of the table. It’s not surprising that Liverpool come out ahead of the rest, what is surprising perhaps is that Arsenal are second, with Manchester United third and Chelsea a distantfourth.

But, the critics will say, that big zero in the first column is the one that everyone wants and so it should be worth a lot more than a Charity Shield, or even a League Cup. I’ll grant you that and in fact I’m reminded that it was Bill Shankly himself who put it into perspective in 1973, after Liverpool won their first UEFA Cup. With the League Championship trophy in front of him he stated: “This is our bread and butter, and this is what we want to win. All the time!” The next most valuable has to be the European Cup (which is now the Champions League). After that the order of importance is something like FA Cup in third place, followed by UEFA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and finally Charity Shield in seventh place. So how does that change the standings in our “team of the millennium” contest? Well, let’s do the obvious thing and give a points value to each trophy. We’ll agree that the Premier League is most valuable and give it ten points, followed by the Champions League with nine points, and so on, all the way down to the Charity Shield with a value of four points. The standings then look like this:

Liverpool: 62 points, Arsenal: 52 points, Manchester United: 38 points, Chelsea: 30 points.

Now, again, I can hear the critics pointing out that the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup are really no more that “Exhibition” or “Friendly” contests that don’t really count for much. But I would beg to differ and say that these competitions and their respective trophies are there for bragging rights if nothing else, between the top two domestic winners and the top two European winners. Besides, when we play the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea (which we did in the three Charity Shields that we’ve played in since 2001) then would anyone say that neither side really cared who won? Of course we do; we were thrilled to beat Manchester United and Chelsea, and disappointed to lose to Arsenal. But, if we take those so-called minor trophies out, for the sake of avoiding such arguments, then what do we have? Well, the ranking in number of trophies doesn’t change with Liverpool still in first place with six, followed by Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea with five, four, and three, respectively. The points totals change slightly with Liverpool and Arsenal tied at 44 points, Manchester United way behind with 34 points, and finally Chelsea with 26 points. That tie for first place is a little bit worrying at first glance but let’s take a closer look. First, I would argue that Liverpool take first place using the total number of trophies as a tie-breaker (six versus five). If that doesn’t sound reasonable then look at it this way: Arsenal have won all five of their major trophies in England, while Liverpool have been busy picking up silverware in Europe as well as domestically. Surely that’s sufficient to take first place with the quantity, variety, and breadth of trophies being enough to break the tie in our favour.

So the only conclusion that we can come to out of all this analysis is that Liverpool not only remain the most successful football club in English history, but should be recognised and acknowledged as:

Liverpool FC: Team of the Millennium!

What do you think? Give Keith your comments at Keith [at] lfcvancouver.com.