Liverpool's season may have been dominated by pessimistic grumblings of defensive jitters, surrendered leads and misfiring strikers stalling in a hopeless game of catch-up both in Europe and in the Premiership, but realism should kick in at Anfield this evening.
Victory against Spartak Moscow would leave Gerard Houllier less perturbed and more purring at his side's progress to date. Liverpool remain only two points behind the champions Arsenal in the league and would have been top had they not twice frittered away two-goal home leads last month.
Similarly, their stuttering start in Europe is only marginally worse than last year when they claimed two points from their opening games but still went on to reach the quarter-finals. This season's continental recovery, propelled by the manager's more attack-minded philosophy, begins tonight.
"I had a vision of where we wanted to go, and that implied some changes," said Houllier. "We've developed a strength over the last few seasons, but I wanted us to open up a bit more to make our game richer. I don't think we'd have been able to do that a year ago, but we can now and the quality of our displays is there for all to see. We have a stability and continuity to our play, to which we've added a fluidity."
That has already prompted 18 goals in eight Premiership games this season, with midfielders given more licence to maraud and contributing eight of that tally en route. "We were accused of being too orthodox last season, though it still got us 80 points and to the last eight of the Champions League," said Danny Murphy.
"This year we've discovered more flair and freedom. Players are more courageous, more mature and have greater confidence in their ability.
"It is promising. We've heard all the things coming out of Highbury, about them going unbeaten, but that doesn't wash with us.
"You have to admire Arsenal's power, pace and ability but they are only human and they can't continue to play fantastically well every week. When they have a lull, we'll be there to challenge."
Similar confidence is driving the European campaign. Liverpool may have lost 2-0 to these opponents on their last meeting, albeit a decade ago, but only six of the last 22 European visitors have scored in this arena. "It's the last throw of the dice for them," added Houllier, "but this is really about us."
LIVERPOOL (4-1-3-2; probable): Dudek; Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia, Riise; Hamann; Gerrard, Murphy, Heskey; Owen, Baros.
SPARTAK MOSCOW (4-4-2; probable): Cherchesov; Kovtun, Tchuisse, Khlestov, Kebe; Baranov, Kudryashov, Kalynychenko, Da Silva; Beschastnykh, Danishevskiy.
