OPINION: This is the best Liverpool squad since the late 1980s

It will be ten years on Thursday since Rafael Benitez's Liverpool overwhelmed Newcastle United by a four-goal margin to go three points clear at the top of the Premier League, prompting Steven Gerrard to proclaim the squad to be the best he'd played in and declare that the title was certainly attainable.

There was the not inconsiderable obstacle of Sir Alex Ferguson to contend with that season.

The Scot declared that Liverpool's ten-point lead would be reeled in and was as good as his word.

But a glance at the personnel from back then provides a sense of how far the club have travelled in the decade since the Benitez took them close. It was a mixture of the workmanlike (Dirk Kuyt), the average (Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun) and the deeply indifferent (David Ngog) which beat Joe Kinnear's Newcastle 5-1.

Gerrard, whose partnership with Fernando Torres would peak the following Spring, simply dragged them up to a competitive level.

It can't be said that Anfield rocked to the soundtrack of the team maintaining the grip on the top which they have once again established.

These outcomes are expected against opposition with such minimal ambition as Benitez's present charges.

But there was intensity, despite that. Jurgen Klopp has purged the side of the remotest vestige of average capability and that contributes to the thrilling aspect of this this side.

Xherdan Shaqiri is the prime example of the gold dust which dusts the team, back to front. Klopp begins matches without him more often than, deploying him intermittently in a way akin to despatching an armed missile into the opposition ranks.

After four games warming the bench, there was no loose ball Shaqiri did not sprint to chase down, arms pumping in that idiosyncratic way of his.

He worked at the back - at the forward apex of a triangle with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dejan Lovren - and off the front, sending balls through with his assortment of flicks and tricks.

If there was a criticism, it was that he was sometimes too ornate but his watchfulness is unrivalled. He is continually looking, mentally calculating the next pass.

His sweet left foot sent in a 44th minute free kick which a Mohammed Diame deflection and Martin Dubravka fingertip touch helped send over the bar. His tap-in goal, sealing the win beyond all doubt, was richly earned.

The man whose finish started the procession off is no less a demonstration of Klopp's capacity to bring the best from those who are not the first choice.

Many gave Dejan Lovren no chance after that disastrous afternoon at Wembley being overrun by Tottenham's Harry Kane, a little more than 12 months ago. But his goal here - a half volley of the highest technical merit - capped a fine return to the team since Joe Gomez was injured at Burnley.

There were minimal glitches - though you don't take points from Liverpool by sacrificing chances like the one presented to Joselu, when Virgil van Dijk failed to intercept a lofted ball by the enterprising Isaac Hayden, eight minutes in.

Liverpool's usual suspects offered their own contributions without signing their name across the match.

The slick, rapid interchange of passes between Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane was devastating at times in the first half, though each of those three drifted in and out.

What marks this team out from the classes of 2008, or 2014 under Brendan Rodgers, is the lack of reliance on one driving force, like Gerrard. It is collectivism, in the old Liverpool way.

That point cannot have been lost on Kevin Keegan, lost his own thoughts as he looked on from the stand when news of Leicester City's winner came in, the Kop end burst into life and by the finish they were singing Benitez's name in unison and invoking the memory of Istanbul.

But Liverpool have moved on way beyond him. That desperate combat with Manchester United feels like a distant memory. This is the best  squad Anfield has known since the late 1980s days when they regularly processed to the title.