David PRENTICE: Official - Reds are on top of the world.

Byline: David PRENTICE

CRISIS? What crisis? Forget the Carling Cup calamity at Crystal Palace, the players not trying hard enough at Fulham or Peter Crouch still searching desperately for a goal - Liverpool fans are currently watching the best team in the world. That's right. According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, from November 1, 2004, to October 30, 2005, Liverpool were the world's best. The IFFHS bases its findings on strict mathematical evidence. Only one domestic cup competition is included, which explains why the Carling Cup upset didn't count, and even then only points are awarded from quarter-finals onwards.

Oh, and if you lose on penalties, both teams get the same points. African teams get eight points for a league win, South Americans 12 points and in Europe it's14 for a win, seven for a draw.

Why? No idea, but "The World Club Ranking is a precise classification showing the real level of the clubs free of any subjective influence." So there.

As a result, Austria Vienna(24th) must really be better than Barcelona (28th), but what about Everton?

The Toffees just about sneak onto the table at number 226, 19 places below the wonderfully named Argentinian Club of Gymnastics and Fencing the Silver - and almost as good as Japan's I retire FC Iwata.

We should thank IFFHS for making us aware of the existence of clubs like IT CRACKS Casablanca, King Faisal Babies of Kumasi and Newell's Old Boys Rosary.

But any other relevance should really be taken with a pinch of salt TOP 20: 1 Liverpool, 2 Inter Milan, 3 Bayern Munich, 4 AC Milan, 5 Manchester United, 6 CSKA Moscow, 7 Lyon, 8 Arsenal, 9 CA Mouth Juniors (Argentina), 10 Villarreal, 11 Sao Paulo (Brazil), 12 Chelsea, 13 PSV Eindhoven, 14 AZ 67 Alkmaar, 15 Auxerre 16 Sporting Lisbon, 17 Newcastle/Monaco, 19 Juventus, 20 SC The International Carry Cheers (Brazil