The 13-14 Premier League season has set a transfer record of £760 million ($1.26 billion USD), but the January window spending of £130 million was remarkably tepid compared to the £225 million spent in 2011. Before the Juan Mata to Manchester United transfer in 2014, the top-five most expensive all-time EPL January moves were all from that window with Luis Suárez being the fifth. 

Suárez has become the world’s most explosive goalscorer this season with 29 goals without a single penalty kick to pad that total, but he came to Anfield from Ajax for just £22.7 million compared to the £50 million Liverpool received from Chelsea for Fernando Torres. Liverpool spent more on Andy Carroll from Newcastle, while Edin Dzeko went to Man City from Wolfsburg and Chelsea also spent more on David Luiz from Benfica.

Brendan Rodgers now believes that Suárez is worthy of a £100 million transfer fee, or at least nearly as much as Gareth Bale. 

Carroll was expected to become Liverpool’s primary replacement for Torres, but he scored just six goals before going to West Ham on a loan that became permanent last June. The departure of Carroll has allowed Liverpool to fully play to the strength of Suárez and he’s having a historic season in which he will almost certainly become the Premier League’s single season goal king, while he also has a shot to also lead in assists.

Suárez was seen as mercurial and in that second strata of superstar after the 12-13 season in which he had 23 goals, five assists and an infamous bite of Branislav Ivanovic that resulted in a five-game ban to begin the current campaign. But no player in the world is having as good of a season as Suárez, ranking first in WhoScored’s average rating at 8.62, ahead of Lionel Messi, Franck Ribéry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski.

Suárez has benefitted from sending out the bad fit in Carroll, generally improved teammates in the arrivals of Daniel Sturridge and Coutinho, along with Raheem Sterling coming up from Liverpool’s youth team, as well as Rodgers’ strategy of loading up on all of those attacking players on the pitch at the same time. Suárez has responded to the improved situation by being a more mature player in both his decision-making and emotionally. Suárez has a remarkable level of confidence as everything has come together perfectly. He appears genuinely reformed without losing any of that edge many believed is what made him such a dangerous scorer. Suárez’s goal conversion rate appears unsustainable in the long-term, but there is enough evidence to suggest that this type of supporting cast and tactics will allow him to produce at a far higher level than previously thought.

Most managers conform to fairly conventional tactics with their own smaller deviations that highlight their philosophy and personality, but Rodgers is playing to the strengths of his roster and forcing teams to enter matches knowing there’s little to no chance at a clean sheet.

Liverpool ranks eighth in possession, but first in on target shots per game with 6.8. They clearly love the counterattack (eight goals, twice as many as any other team in the league) and unlike most teams that employ that strategy, they manage to do it with frequency. Liverpool averages five through balls per game (1st in EPL) and last in crosses with just 17.

This type of relentless attack has forced opponents to be cautious in their own attack and offense becomes a form of defense in a bizarro way that's akin to Barcelona keeping possession as a defensive strategy. Liverpool has also had penchant for scoring early during this run, which has also allowed the counterattack to continue by sitting back.

Sturridge was the consolation prize for Liverpool in January of 2012 after their initial target, Clint Dempsey, instead went from Fulham to Tottenham for £6 million a few months earlier in August. Liverpool’s management was concerned about investing in the then-29-year-old Dempsey and getting the still 24-year-old Sturridge for £12 million instead was a brilliant decision in hindsight.

Sturridge is maximizing his first consistent opportunity after not given regular time at Manchester City and Chelsea. Sturridge has given Liverpool a second scoring option with his brilliant first touch and pace. Suárez only trails David Silva and Mesut Özil in key passes per game with 2.8, two very traditional creators, and many of those chances have been for Sturridge to beat a final defender one-on-one.

The £8 million transfer for Coutinho from Inter Milan was also a remarkable acquisition, joining Steven Gerrard in the midfield to masterfully setup the attacking opportunities for Suárez, Sturridge and Sterling. Coutinho averages 0.4 through balls per game, which ranks him only behind Silva and Suárez in the EPL. Coutinho elicits a comparison to Deco for Rodgers, while Jordan Henderson has had a breakthrough season even though I’m not prepared to consider him a serious long-term replacement for Gerrard. Like their defense and goalkeeper, this will be an area they eventually improve via transfer.

Liverpool finished in seventh place last season, despite a fifth-ranked goal differential of +28. The title odds still favor Manchester City at 67 percent compared to 20 percent for Liverpool has 35 points out of a possible 39 in 2014 and are clearly playing the best soccer in the Premier League right now in terms of both results and aesthetics. If Liverpool manages to win the Premier League, the enormity and speed of the turnaround will be remarkable considering how subtle title winners typically jump.

Manchester United 2013: up from 2nd
Manchester City 2012: up from 3rd
Manchester United 2011: up from 2nd
Chelsea 2010: up from 3rd
Manchester United 2009: remain 1st
Manchester United 2008: remain 1st
Manchester United 2007: up from 2nd
Chelsea 2006: remain 1st
Chelsea 2005: up from 2nd
Arsenal 2004: up from 2nd
Manchester United 2003: up from 3rd
Arsenal 2002: up from 2nd
Manchester United 2001: remain 1st

I’m not sure anyone other than José Mourinho is ostentatious enough as Rodgers to even believe the league title was possible for Liverpool given the lack of precedent. There has been help from United being D.O.A. in David Moyes’ first (only) season and another major fade by Arsenal, but Liverpool has manufactured their own luck.

"He manages every single player differently, he knows we have different characters in the dressing room and his man-to-man, one-on-one management is the best I have known,” Gerrard said recently.

“He makes you go out on the pitch feeling a million dollars with confidence and belief, and he is a very confident manager.”

Even though Rodgers has Liverpool approximately 12 months ahead of his own anticipated schedule, there are a few reasons why this chance at their first League title since 1990 can’t merely be viewed as the first of several.

Liverpool of course didn’t quality for the Champions League, their FA Cup elimination came in February and their Capital One Cup run ended way back in September. Liverpool has fallen to fifth in Premier League in resources due to the influx of cash from Sheikh Mansour with Man City and I’m not sure they will again afford the type of depth to properly compete in Europe while fully going for it in the Premier League. Rodgers hasn’t dealt with the types of wear and tear injuries that have plagued Arsenal for example. Liverpool is the shiny red sports car that gets to rest in the garage while Arsenal and Man City (eliminated in the UCL top 16 stage), and Manchester United and Chelsea (still alive in the UCL quarters) get beaten up by Bayern, Barça and PSG.

United and Arsenal should both be improved in 14-15, while Chelsea could enter the season as favorites on paper in Mourinho’s second season with their striker issue resolved. Even though that nightmare 09-10 to 12-13 run of seventh, sixth, eighth and seventh place finishes in the EPL is fully behind Liverpool, this still should be treated as a lightning in a bottle moment.