NO refereeing decision – no matter how dodgy – should spoil the good feeling all Liverpool fans should have woken up with yesterday morning after the draw with Chelsea.

That crucial evidence that Rafael Benitez has already assembled a team better than last year’s is now there for all to see, even at this early stage.

Think back to how long it took his new signings to settle in last season. It seems there’s no such problem in that area now and, quite simply, the likes of Mark Gonzalez and Craig Bellamy can’t live with this lot.

Fernando Torres has to be the biggest indication that Benitez has got it right this time. He made a good start at Villa and getting off the mark on your Anfield debut against Chelsea, well it doesn’t get much better than that.

Ryan Babel is also looking good when he comes on and Andriy Voronin with one start and one great goal proves that Liverpool can, when needed, play two very different yet very good teams.

And the way the new guys are playing is also geeing up the existing players because they’re desperate to hang on to their place – Jermaine Pennant the best case in point. But the best thing about the current strength in depth is that it’s not letting them manger get too carried away with rotation.

It seemed that Benitez was forever searching for his best 11 in the early days last season and this indecision lost them vital ground.

Now, he’s gone and picked the same 11 for both Premier League games and that can only be a good thing. He’s picking the players that are used to the Premier League and it seems his policy of being more offensive is paying off as well.

What Sunday proved is that Liverpool are finally starting to get to Chelsea’s level in the league. Okay, they beat them in January but there was no John Terry and Petr Cech was still easing his way back in after his skull injury.

This time, it was a much more familiar Chelsea and Liverpool showed they can more than live with them.

But within that there was a down side and one which suggests staying with them over 38 game sand not just 90 minutes is a very different thing.

It was the failure to get that second goal. You always need it against a team like that otherwise you just can’t kill them off.

The fact that it took a non-existent penalty to do it is somehow as heartening as it is annoying but it would have been irrelevant if Chelsea had been out of sight by that time.

Either way, the point is Liverpool have shown the instant improvement everybody has been craving.

Which is more than can be said for referees.

Yesterday we had the usual hiding behind Keith Hackett and the ritual humiliation of a referee being dropped from this weekend’s fixtures.

All very well after the event, but I still think referees would make life easier for themselves if they came straight out afterwards and explained their decisions.

It might not make things right, but at least they might put the issue to bed there and then instead of letting it fester and cause the ructions it did for the next 24 hours.

It was Rob Styles who dominated the radio phone-ins we had afterwards because he’d left the whole subject for his decision up for debate by staying silent.

So until this process changes we can carry on expecting the referees stealing the headlines from the players.

Everton still need additional new faces

THE inability of Everton to keep up their great start at Reading is final proof that David Moyes desperately needs his new signings and injured players to join the squad.

Those three of four changes he will be able to make will make all the difference when Europe kicks in and three games a week becomes the norm.

At the Madejski some of them looked a bit leggy and I couldn’t help thinking they had left a bit at White Hart Lane on Tuesday night, where they had a fantastic result.

But it’s probably why James McFadden looked their most dangerous player when he came on on Saturday, because he wasn’t as weighed down by the week’s excursions as the rest of his team-mates.

Don’t forget Everton have started with the same midfield and forward line in all three of their Premier League games.

If Moyes can get Fernandes and an additional striker added to the squad this week, that will boost their numbers enough to enable the manager to freshen things up with a few changes – that’s all he needs.

Still, no need to be despondent. Reading are a side who know how to close games out and make life very difficult, as they had already done for Manchester United and Chelsea.

So nothing to worry about. The way Everton have to look at is three games played in a week and six points out of nine.

They can’t complain about that start.

A waste of time

WHY do I get the feeling that heading to Wembley tomorrow night will be an absolute, total waste of time?

These friendlies are meaningless and only make the relationship between the Premier League managers and the FA even more strained.

Two days of training together at Bisham Abbey would have been better because the clubs wouldn’t have been as desperate to pull players out of that.

It’s not as if Steve McClaren can play anything like a full-strength team anyway so what indication do we get of our chances of qualifying?

One thing is for sure, they won’t be any better for tomorrow night’s events.

Sven slick at City

SO Sven-Goran Eriksson only knows how to buy teams does he?

Schmeichel, Richards, Dunne, Hamann, Johnson, Ireland – players that were already there when he took over and have played as much a part in Manchester City’s great start as anyone.

And so what if he does spend a lot on players? They seem to be pretty damn good ones from what we’ve seen so far.

City rode their luck in the derby but that’s what you have to do against United so they won’t care because they’re top of the league.

And the best thing about that is, expect some more good signings before the end of the transfer window because Sven is in the perfect position right now to attract some top players.

Mark Lawrenson was talking to Nick Smith