COMMENT: Too many questions unanswered on Liverpool's credentials

Oct 29 2007 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

AT least it’s only Manchester City presently keeping Liverpool’s place in the top four warm for them.

Rafael Benitez should get his team there eventually and yesterday’s events only do more to convince it will be a matter of time.

But looking beyond that, the wait for a 19th title seems set to agonisingly drag on into a 19th year.

A draw might be considered a good result against a rampant Arsenal, but they and Liverpool remaining the only unbeaten sides in the top flight going into November is pretty much where the parallels end. Because for a side that hasn’t lost yet, Liverpool are looking far from championship contenders, based on not only the genuine test their credentials faced yesterday, but events leading up to it.

Such as the uneasy friction between manager and captain, the disappointing league position caused by too many dropped points at home and a Champions League campaign that promises little other than the need to keep Thursday nights free in the new year. If they’re lucky.

All the while down in north London, the only disputes raging seemed to be about what was most impressive. The nature of Arsenal’s stunning 7-0 victory over Slavia Prague in midweek or the fact that it was their 12th in succession.

Once they got their heads round that, the only puzzle left to figure out is how Arsene Wenger has somehow managed to construct – in the summer he lost Thierry Henry – possibly his best ever squad.

It’s what building title-winning dynasties is all about. Something, of course, Liverpool are the original pioneers of, but memories of their last one are fading faster than daylight hours after yesterday’s bout of annual clock-altering.

Although it is depressingly premature to make shouts at who will be leading the way again at this time of year, the inescapable fact of the matter is that if you’re looking the part now then it’s usually serving notice that you will at the business end of the season.

Arsenal have the swagger and, as they proved yesterday, the staying power of Wenger’s invincibles from four years ago.

Manchester United started slowly but they’ve scored four in each of their last four games and, disregarding the Carling Cup with the same disdain their manager does, that run punctuates a 12-game winning streak.

Even Chelsea seem to have had their blip. Somehow, they’re still below Manchester City but should soon trample all over them with the ruthlessness they did at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. All three of Liverpool’s perceived main rivals are settling into the defining part of the season and striding ominously towards the Premier League riches they’ve shared between them for the past 12 seasons, not giving anyone else a sniff in the process.

To that end, Liverpool feel more left out than most. But while the aforementioned trio are emphatically answering their various doubters, at Anfield there are too many questions.

Like, how are Liverpool still unbeaten and only sixth behind Blackburn? (And how perilous is this Saturday’s evening at Ewood looking?)

And what’s the best team? The best formation? Hard to believe it was yesterday’s three-striker gamble. Or a diamond, as some suggested it might be, albeit one badly in need of a good polish.

At least it worked in starving Arsenal of vital space in midfield, especially as Liverpool could afford to sit on Steven Gerrard’s superb early goal and swallow those gaps up.