Hoping our perfect 10 week is no Red herring

OKAY, let’s have a little quiet time.

Take a few deep breaths. Consider the quality of the opposition or the number of games played and how long is left to go.

I’m not getting through am I? Ten goals in a week tell their own story, and the obvious deficiencies of Toulouse and Derby don’t matter.

Think back to Watford last December, when we struggled woefully against a similarly-doomed side.

As much as the Pessimista want to slam the breaks onto the feelgood factor something IS different about this Liverpool team. I’m almost scared to say so.

Transfer deadline day passed with little activity. Despite the hissy fit over Heinze and the broken bones of Carragher and Hyypia, Rafa decided we were okay as we were and Paletta could also be sacrificed.

Toulouse weren’t faking it in the first leg, they really were that bad. Lots of chances went a begging but four were taken. That will always do for me.

I’m sure when the games get harder and tighter we’ll curse Kuyt’s profligacy and Crouch’s spongy head.

But you couldn’t help admiring the squad players’ determination to catch the eye. Competition for places is an awful cliché but for now it seems we actually have it. Anyone not giving their all will stand out like Liberace at a fight club.

That accusation has never been levelled at Sissoko of course, it’s his four-touch football that caused the consternation.

So much of the game is about confidence and one goal won’t make much difference, but he shone with his passing as much as his work-rate. One attempt with the outside of the foot drew gasps of astonishment, not the sniggers of yore.

The CL draw doesn’t appear terribly difficult. Obviously my own indifference to Europe isn’t shared by many.

Attending all six home games last season still wasn’t enough to qualify for Athens in 70% of cases, no matter what the club claimed. Should another ‘miracle’ occur I’ve no intention of visiting Moscow so I can relax and concentrate on what matters — the Premiership.

It may be early days but we’re ticking along nicely. Rafa may be sore after losing right-hand man Pako Ayesteran but if the club recruited Gary McAllister it would be a huge fillip for the fans.

Such a good start has everyone searching for omens. Try this: wasn’t Ferguson with Archie Knox for years before replacing him with someone who’d scored for United in a European final? That’s me, the King of Tenuous!

Derby were there for the taking and boy were they taken. That was hardly ever the Rafa way of old. Pako dealt primarily with the fitness of the players, one of the angriest bees in my bonnet.

I bore friends to death about the night we put seven past Birmingham. Every player ran as hard in the 90th minute as they did in the first. Saturday was exactly the same. Work isn’t work if you truly enjoy it. Goals and near misses are worth more than a hundred laps of the track. Fatigue is often in the mind.

The newspapers here chose different players for man-of-the-match. Maybe the absence of Gerrard is confusing the poor lambs. Yet none even mentioned the consistently-excellent Finnan or the improving Arbeloa. When there are numerous candidates for star performer you know things are looking up.

Lost his assistant manager, lost Carragher, lost out on Heinze, lost Gerrard. Last season we’d have been singing “why does it always rain on me” in funereal tones.

Now we not only get on with it, we chalk up our biggest league win under Benitez and go top for a few weeks.

Maybe Rafa will grab his comfort blanket of caution at the first hint of danger and remember we haven’t been behind yet.

But frankly I’m sailing in uncharted waters. I don’t do ‘optimistic’ at the best of times, and if the light at the end of the tunnel is actually the 3.45 express to Reality don’t say you weren’t warned.

For the moment though it feels slightly treacherous pulling that stunt. We are playing well, end of story.

Enjoy your fortnight on cloud nine.