And so it came to pass that Manchester City beat Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield this afternoon, despite the ‘hostile’ atmosphere. Some thoughts soon after the (non?) event.
Liverpool were pretty good until the referee, for reasons best known to himself, sent off Ryan Gravenberch, the reds’ best player, after a second yellow card. We can argue until the cows come home whether it was the right decision – the first yellow card was never a yellow card IMHO – but these things happen in football. We can argue, too, that Citeh’s Mark Guehi should have been sent off, but again, he wasn’t. We can only live in the world we, well, live in.
Social media is full of angry conspiracy theorists suggesting that referee Chris Kavanagh was bent, likely on the UAE payroll. That’s football fans for you. In truth, Liverpool collapsed immediately after the sending off, couldn’t adjust quickly enough to being a man short and then Citeh scored. Game over. If anything, Kavanagh fucked up with the rash first booking, but let’s not forget that so much about football is “in the opinion of the referee”. In the end, Liverpool were lucky not to lose by even more, even if they actually shaded the game until THAT incident.
There was a weird atmosphere, though, that everyone knew that something wasn’t right about Citeh winning or even being there at all. The club has cheated on an industrial scale and the cheating for a decade to 2018 helped build the club to where it is today. Gary Neville, ex Man You, read the mood perfectly and did not gloat, as you might expect a Man You legend to gloat. The air was heavy, something was wrong. When Citeh started to showboat, I felt a glimmer of anger, just for a moment, because they were taking the piss. Not that the players intended it that way. But emotions run deep. I can imagine the anger and frustration of those who care far more than I do.
Even before Citeh took over and killed the game off, I felt a bit dirty watching it. Nothing was normal. A club that had won countless gongs by cheating were now winning again, having not yet been punished, if they are ever punished at all.
When it was over, normality reigned. I carried on reading my book, we had our tea, I’ve just poured a glass of something cold, the world is still turning. As we have said, the game has truly gone and I am not sure there is a way back. I understand why so many people are either thrilled or angry about today’s result, I’m just glad I am neither.
