Scouseproud?

It may be slightly perverse to be writing this on the day that they leaked four goals at Leeds, but all the signs are that, after a deep slumber lasting veritable centuries, Liverpool appear to be slowly getting it together again.

Foul Play still does not know quite how the 'Pool contrived to lose that match 4-3, and does not propose to analyse it in greater detail here, apart from pausing to note that Mark Viduka has obviously deigned to operate at more than 70-per-cent throttle for his new employers.

But speaking as someone who has watched all of Liverpool's last three games live, through the magic of satellite-dish subscription payments, I feel eminently qualified to pronounce that the current side is their best since the heady days of the 1995-1996 campaign, when the title would have been theirs (they eventually finished third) but for a rotten spell of form during what subsequently became known as "Black November".

At the time, I was actually moved to go out and buy a tape of Liverpool's highlights video from that season, such was the beauty of their football during most of the campaign. They were spearheaded by the 55-goal partnership of Collymore and Fowler, a figure which sounds surprisingly impressive in terms of the mad one's contribution, until you realise that Fowler contributed about forty of those goals.

The only other Liverpool-related tape in the house belongs to my brother, a video of the disastrous 1998-1999 season, which he received as a misjudged Xmas present from a well-meaning relative.

There's a Black November on that tape, as well, not to mention a Black October, a Black December, a Black February, and a decidedly Brown April and May.

On the evidence of the Leeds game, not to mention the 3-1 rogering they administered to Everton the other week (and ignoring their pallid performance against Slovan Liberec in the UEFA Cup, since it does not suit my argument), they look like they are well on the way back.

In these two games, they showed far more attacking purpose than in a long time, and but for that spell of tiredness near the end at Elland Road, they defended with immense obduracy and cohesion, in particular the magnificent Sami Hyypia.

What is beyond doubt is that Liverpool have less of an Ingredient X about them since the departure of Steve McManaman for Real Madrid 'B'. As Cliff from Cheers used to say, "In a way, that's good. But in another way, it really sucks."

McManaman used to squander rather more possession than he utilised, and while Liverpool's attacks have lessened in number since his departure, they at least now have some sense of purpose about them, whenever they cross the halfway line.

The ever-improving contribution of Vladimir Smicer has helped matters. I have watched Smicer closely for some time now, and he never fails to impress.

Against Leeds, had it not been for our friend Viduka, he would surely have claimed the Man of the Match award with a cavalier performance on the wing and a superbly-taken goal. Against Everton, he turned Michael Ball inside out all through the match, and won the penalty that clinched proceedings. Given that this basically amounts to as much as he achieved in his first season at Anfield, the sense of progress is palpable.

Perhaps the Czech's increasingly eyecatching contribution will help to lessen Liverpool's chronic overdependence on Michael Owen. Certainly, since Fowler suffered the first of his bad injuries they have been massively diminished as an attacking force.

They are currently averaging about two goals a game, which will come as a surprise to anyone who watched those somewhat less impressive UEFA Cup encounters against Rapid Bucharest and Slovan Liberec live on BBC1 recently. Two per match is reasonable enough, but Liverpool are still way behind Man United in terms of potency, and this remains the yardstick, whether they like it or not.

Also, if these things can be quantified in such a manner, their squad remains about four players behind Man United and three behind Arsenal, in terms of strength-in-depth. It is impossible, for instance, to

view the signing of Gary McAllister as

anything but a retrograde step. Ditto that of Nick Barmby, although for very different reasons.

There are other weaknessess in the current squad. They've got a fairly dodgy young geezer from Africa getting an occasional game at left-back; I remain unmoved by the charms of Jamie Carragher; and if you thought Erik Meijer was bad, wait till you get a proper look at Bernard Diomede (a World Cup winner with France, admittedly, but only in the same sense that Frank Leboeuf is a World Cup winner with France).

Yet there were undeniable signs against Leeds, and against Everton, that the long-dormant red beast is once more stirring, and that they may once again, in the fullness of time, come to challenge Man United's totalitarian supremacy.

Like I said earlier, this is good, and not so good.