I made that comment in jest more than anything but I don't feel the chance to be world champions is to be sniffed at even if the tournament set up is a bit meh, something that finally seems to be getting fixed.
I think the better season is subjective relative to expectations. Had the two penalty shootouts been flipped it would have certainly been a massive success of a season for us all things considered however in Liverpool's shoes (arguably their best ever squad in the peak of their powers) to miss out on both the big two I think they'll be a lot of regret on their part. I felt similar with us in 06-07 and 07-08 (despite the great United team we battled), to miss out on both the big two with Lamps/Drogs/Essien/Cech etc at their absolute pomp ultimately felt a bit of a wasted opportunity (especially in 2007 when we couldn't take advantage of you dropping points to Pompey/Boro at the business end and we lost that shootout to Liverpool).