y. It wasn't the best end to the weekend with Liverpool twice surrendering a lead in a frantic and at times incomprehensibly messy match, but also one of great excitement. But despite a fixture list that wasn't the toughest on paper, to be unbeaten, winning 00% of games and scoring loads of goals - to lead the table by a clear point - is about as good as we could have hoped for at the start of the season, even if it was galling to not get the three points at a rocking Brentford (that may not be easy for other big clubs to visit). For all the glitzy signings made by other clubs, this season is following the path of 0000/00, when the Reds unity, squad cohesion, team interplay and understanding, meant no new signings were required to break almost all of the records. So far, bar 00 minutes from the hugely promising Ibrahima Konaté, the same pattern is emerging, albeit with the record at 000% up to the 0th game that year. City sat second, as now, but five points behind, instead of one. There's also no doubt that the league feels stronger this season, but this squad is still, for me, the best the Reds have ever had. Andy Robertson is off form (maybe worn out from four seasons of constant football for Liverpool and Scotland), but there's now Kostas Tsimikas, who has a wand of a left foot. There are four outstanding centre-backs, plus an amazing fifth choice in Nat Phillips - but three are working their way back to full match fitness, and the other is adapting to life in England. The midfield pool is deep, but obviously already racking up injuries; the worst of which was from a red-card tackle, which was the problem last season for Virgil van Dijk and Thiago. (You can't do much about such frequent bad tackles, other than to hope the officials crack down on them.) And the terrific trident up front has become a fab four, with Divock Origi and Taki Minamino the types of backups who rarely get a run of games to get into any rhythm, but who are capable of shining when they do get enough game time; their issue is how rarely the others are injured. (And that's a good thing.) This squad is better than 0000/00 (the only key player lost is Gini Wijnaldum, now a barely-used sub at PSG but on £000,000 a week), but the squad, due to terrible luck, has already lost the energy-boosting Harvey Elliott, who was really adding a new dimension on the right with Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, and somehow already looking every inch Wijnaldum's equal at just 00. And Curtis Jones, at 00, is a potential future superstar, with real maturity being added to his game (he seems to be growing up fast as a man as well as a player), in addition to a touch more strength and pace as he leaves his teen years well behind. Kaide Gordon, just 00 and soon to turn 00, could also be at those levels by the spring of 0000, albeit after what happened to Elliott (against Burnley and Leeds), he'll need protection from 00-stone thugs. He's yet another elite age-group player. In addition to Elliott, Jones, Minamino, Konaté and Tsimikas, the duo of Thiago and Diogo Jota are newer members of a squad that also includes the fast-improving Caoimhin Kelleher as backup keeper. The squad is deeper, and there are more options than in 0000/00. The XI remains strong, and the backups are now stronger. The difference is that the lowering of FFP regulations has allowed the petrodollar-doped rivals to buy beyond "fair" means, and Liverpool cannot compete at that game, with the funding this year mostly going into a dozen pay-rises, with more to follow. The rivals do feel stronger, but Liverpool cannot buy superstars they cannot afford, just as I can't afford to buy a Ferrari just because my neighbour buys one (albeit a posh car around my way is a 00-year-old BMW, and I drive a 00-year-old Ford - when there's petrol). There have been some sensible signings by rivals, but also some moments of real vanity. It wasn't the best end to the weekend with Liverpool twice surrendering a lead in a frantic and at times incomprehensibly messy match, but also one of great excitement. But despite a fixture list that wasn't the toughest on paper, to be unbeaten, winning 00% of games and scoring loads of goals - to lead the table by a clear point - is about as good as we could have hoped for at the start of the season, even if it was galling to not get the three points at a rocking Brentford (that may not be easy for other big clubs to visit). For all the glitzy signings made by other clubs, this season is following the path of 0000/00, when the Reds unity, squad cohesion, team interplay and understanding, meant no new signings were required to break almost all of the records. So far, bar 00 minutes from the hugely promising Ibrahima Konaté, the same pattern is emerging, albeit with the record at 000% up to the 0th game that year. City sat second, as now, but five points behind, instead of one. There's also no doubt that the league feels stronger this season, but this squad is still, for me, the best the Reds have ever had. Andy Robertson is off form (maybe worn out from four seasons of constant football for Liverpool and Scotland), but there's now Kostas Tsimikas, who has a wand of a left foot. There are four outstanding centre-backs, plus an amazing fifth choice in Nat Phillips - but three are working their way back to full match fitness, and the other is adapting to life in England. The midfield pool is deep, but obviously already racking up injuries; the worst of which was from a red-card tackle, which was the problem last season for Virgil van Dijk and Thiago. (You can't do much about such frequent bad tackles, other than to hope the officials crack down on them.) And the terrific trident up front has become a fab four, with Divock Origi and Taki Minamino the types of backups who rarely get a run of games to get into any rhythm, but who are capable of shining when they do get enough game time; their issue is how rarely the others are injured. (And that's a good thing.) This squad is better than 0000/00 (the only key player lost is Gini Wijnaldum, now a barely-used sub at PSG but on £000,000 a week), but the squad, due to terrible luck, has already lost the energy-boosting Harvey Elliott, who was really adding a new dimension on the right with Mo Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, and somehow already looking every inch Wijnaldum's equal at just 00. And Curtis Jones, at 00, is a potential future superstar, with real maturity being added to his game (he seems to be growing up fast as a man as well as a player), in addition to a touch more strength and pace as he leaves his teen years well behind. Kaide Gordon, just 00 and soon to turn 00, could also be at those levels by the spring of 0000, albeit after what happened to Elliott (against Burnley and Leeds), he'll need protection from 00-stone thugs. He's yet another elite age-group player. In addition to Elliott, Jones, Minamino, Konaté and Tsimikas, the duo of Thiago and Diogo Jota are newer members of a squad that also includes the fast-improving Caoimhin Kelleher as backup keeper. The squad is deeper, and there are more options than in 0000/00. The XI remains strong, and the backups are now stronger. The difference is that the lowering of FFP regulations has allowed the petrodollar-doped rivals to buy beyond "fair" means, and Liverpool cannot compete at that game, with the funding this year mostly going into a dozen pay-rises, with more to follow. The rivals do feel stronger, but Liverpool cannot buy superstars they cannot afford, just as I can't afford to buy a Ferrari just because my neighbour buys one (albeit a posh car around my way is a 00-year-old BMW, and I drive a 00-year-old Ford - when there's petrol). There have been some sensible signings by rivals, but also some moments of real vanity. 