Where are we as a club?

I thought I'd kick off a discussion here, and I hope people will join in as they discover this tribe. I wanted to discuss where you consider Liverpool as a club and what you think the future holds for us. Before I start I should probably apologize if my English isn't 100% correct, it's not my first language.

This seems to become a good summer for us, transfer wise, with reinforcements being brought in to fill some holes in our team. Assuming we sign a striker that fits the team and is at least ready to compete for a starting spot with/against Sturridge (if he's fit), I'd say we'd have decent cover in all positions. The question is if having good depth with good players is enough to compete with the very best. Is it viable to keep buying players that may or may not become top class and that might be considered unproven? Can we simply "grow" our own stars by signing young and cheap talent and manage to not become a feeder club? Can we still attract top players, even if we were willing to throw absurd amount of cash around like the top clubs seems to be doing these days? How can we hold on to our star players? I want to know what you think about Liverpools position as a club in a world where it's getting harder to succeed without being super rich, and what can be done to secure our place as a 'top club' in the future.

Let's see some good arguments!