Source: Liverpool_Echo
Liverpool FC pre-season special: Perfect way to title dream
Rafa Benitez _300
AROUND this time in every year since he has been Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is asked what it would take for his team to become champions.
His answer is always the same - 'We must be perfect'.
Perfection has thus far eluded the Reds boss, however, as the league championship trophy has been paraded at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge during his tenure but never yet at Anfield.
Close but no cigar is as good as it has got for Liverpool over the last five years and in that time they have had to endure looking on as Alex Ferguson has puffed away on a steady supply of Cuba's finest, as depressing a sight as it possible for any self-respecting Kopite.
Slowly but surely though the gap has been closing. Liverpool are no longer also-ran's in the title race, they are right there up at the front of the pack pushing their chests forward in the hope of reaching the finishing line first.
In 2004/05, Benitez's first at Anfield, Liverpool finished a mammoth 37 points behind eventual champions Chelsea. Last season the gap was down to a much more respectable four as the pain of finishing as runners up to United was eased - albeit only slightly - by the fact that Liverpool's points total was their best for 21 years.
Progress has been tangible and with improvement has come renewed optimism and a growing belief that the Anfield men could finally be about to end what will soon be a 20-year wait for the title.
