I think its a question of what you're realistic goals are, to judge your relative success. It's no good comparing Everton and Liverpool on an equal footing, because they have access to much more cash through Champions League revenue, and a larger fanbase.
For Liverpool, they have spent large amounts of cash for years, under Houllier and Benitez, and have gotten no closer to the Prem. In those terms, although they've done well in Europe, they have failed in their main objective. You won't get many Liverpool fans arguing with that. They don't like it when an Everton fan points it out, but its the sort of thing they say to each other.
For us, considering the massive financial gulf between us and the top 4, 5th is realistically the best we can do at the moment. It's a fantastic achievement, and a credit to Moyesy and the players. Also looking at the money spent by Spurs, Newcastle, Man City, West Ham, Pompey it shows again how much more difficult it is to get in the Uefa. So realistically, given what we can aim for, we are a happy club with fans who are happy, knowing we have finished pretty much as high as we can at the moment.
The overall point I think, is to be honest with yourself and your ambitions. That's why us finishing 5th is a real success (and I believe we weren't at all far away from winning the Uefa), and that's why Liverpool have failed again to match their ambitions and aims. If David Moyes was given the money that has been given to Houllier and Benitez over years and years, you can absolutely guarantee we would be closer than Liverpool are to the title.