The best is yet to come for Ferguson

London: It was September 2002 when Sir Alex Ferguson delivered what is probably behind that epic night in Barcelona when "football, bloody hell" became a part of our football lives the most instantly recognisable quote of his time as Manchester United's manager.

His team were going through one of those spells when it felt as though the roof at Old Trafford could tumble in. They had finished the previous season 10 points behind Arsenal and barely a month into the new campaign they were six points down on Arsne Wenger's side. Alan Hansen, the man who once said you don't win anything with kids, had described Ferguson's position as "the greatest challenge of his career".

The response was delivered like a cobra strike, quick and brutal. "My greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their perch," Ferguson said.

Liverpool's last league title was in 1990, and Ferguson did not win the first of his 11 championships until three years later. In between, Arsenal and Leeds United both won the league. Yet everyone knows what Ferguson was talking about and, for Liverpool, the bare facts are that it could conceivably get worse before it gets better.

Forget all that stuff about United not playing well. The simple fact is that apart from one night, in November in the Carling Cup at West Ham, they have not lost a single match.

Everything seems to be falling into shape and unless something can happen to stop their trajectory it is difficult to see beyond them winning the title that would establish them as the most successful league side in the history of English football.