Rafael Benitez reckons that just one win against Champions League finalists Manchester United would change Liverpool's season next time around.
Such has been Liverpool's dreadful recent record against the champions, that even co-owner Tom Hicks suggested after December's home defeat that the Reds did not look as if they believed they could beat their rivals.
Benitez accepts the problem and told the LFC magazine: "If you beat Manchester United once it results in a six-point swing either way and that can be the difference."
He said: "Clearly, just one team can win the league, so it doesn't really matter if you are three, six, nine or 11 points behind as we are this season.
"It is not a massive difference. It may just come down to one game over the course of a season.
"The key for me is knowing there is a difference between us and the three teams above us and that we must now reduce this gap.
"It was not massive this season. We came closer than last season. Hopefully next season we will be closer again, maybe even on top of them."
Despite an end-of-season run that saw them lose just two of their 19 games, one of those defeats was a painful 3-0 mauling at Old Trafford.
In Benitez's four seasons at Anfield, Liverpool have lost seven of their league clashes with United, with a 0-0 draw their only point in that time. Benitez's only victory against them was a 1-0 FA Cup fifth-round success in 2006.
