In the last ten years, only two sides have failed to win the Premier League when top at Christmas, both of those were Liverpool teams. 2009 and 2014, two near-misses in the club's eternal quest for that sterling silver trophy.
A regular criticism of Liverpool's title challenges is that the team 'choked' under pressure. In 2014, it was captain Steven Gerrard's infamous slip against Chelsea that has become synonymous with their routine squandering.
However, writing in his Daily Telegraph column, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has ridiculed this familiar take as "complete nonsense."
As the club's second-longest ever serving player, Carragher played on one of those aforementioned teams and knows their eventual failure to get over the line is "easy ammunition against the club." The Englishman argues that when you consider the facts of each individual case, the reality is very different from the perception.
In 2009, Benitez’s end-of-season run was amazing. We won ten of our final eleven Premier League games, a 4-4 draw with Arsenal the only setback. Manchester United had Cristiano Ronaldo and we could not catch them. Their quality and experience saw them win by four points.
Rodgers’ side trailed Manchester City by five points at the halfway stage of the 2014 title race. His side won 12 of its last 14 Premier League games, the Chelsea defeat the only loss. The perception lingers they froze at the crucial moment, when in fact they excelled to go so close with Luis Suarez's inspired performances.
It's an interesting argument. Liverpool finished in 2014 with 84 points, more than the points total of the Premier League champions in 2011 and 2016. However, since 2010 it is on average the same total that the second placed team secures (In 2009, they finished on 86 points.) A good showing by any standard, but predominately good enough for second not first.
In the aftermath of that fixture against Chelsea, then manager Brendan Rodgers blamed Chelsea's tactics, not Liverpool's mentally for the outcome: "there were two buses."
On the other side, if choking is maintaining high-performance in pressure situations, then Liverpool's failure to defeat Crystal Palace, who finished 11th, was by definition 'choking.'
Either way, 2019 is a time of optimism in Merseyside, as the opportunity to cast aside those years of hurt awaits. A huge step towards that comes on Thursday night with a trip to Premier League rivals Manchester City.
You can read the full Jamie Carragher column here.
