Manchester City took all three points off Liverpool to remain unbeaten in the Premier League, and yet it all could be rendered pointless…
SO, Manchester City take the points. For a bit.
Such a strange day.
Initially, I wondered if it might be the most significant league game of the last decade in terms of the future of the game and, weirdly, the broader topic of geopolitics and state ownership.
This being the first time a club has faced them and given the unenviable and unrequested task of firing the first volley of disgust from the whole league, it was a red-letter day in the history of the English league. Surely there’s no game bigger than this one.
But in the end, it was the exact opposite. The whole game, in terms of outcome, was meaningless. Trivial. No one won. Not even the team that did.
Anfield has seen some bizarre encounters over the years, but never one where a league fixture ended with no points being awarded to either team. As Liverpool failed to take any from the game, it was literally pointless, or at least it will be once the punishments arrive.
As Michael Spicer said on Bluesky: “Congratulations to Liverpool for winning today’s match next year.”
A banner on The Kop spoke of cheating a generation of supporters, but if anything, that’s only the half of it.
They’ve disrupted the next two years too, be it by fair means of appeal or outright filibustering. In either case, this Premier League season is a write-off. Sky can show the top half of the League table with accompanying coos and talks of team spirit all they like, but City won’t be anywhere near it once sanctions are handed out.
Again, a pointless exercise. The whole league season reduced to an appeals process.
The key issues of the season – the title and the European and relegation places – will most likely be decided in courtrooms rather than where it matters, rendering everything to the ultimate VAR. You think you’ve made top four, but let’s check in with the officials first. The whole thing is a nonsense.
This too was an awful weekend for Premier League execs and the worst possible fixture to witness. Talk of unguarded, systematic cheating followed by a City team and support clearly hell-bent on brazening it out to the point of pride. Given the power of the owners and even the seemingly tacit approval of the Prime Minister, they must be terrified.
But the Premier League can’t lose it from here. Any minor sanction renders the league, product and competition untenable. They have to be resilient to save their own product.
The referee didn’t help them much either. If the PGMOL are happy to have Greater Manchester refs officiate at Anfield while refusing to let anyone Merseyside-based have a go, then they could really have done without Chris Kavanagh pretty much settling the encounter with his usual brand of officious annoyance.
A pat on the head here, a red card there. Liverpool were great until they were no longer allowed to be.
Cue City taking the game. £136m of goalscorers, £250m worth of substitutes. No questions asked, no comment given. The narrative changed with the swipe of a Norwegian leg.
Sky lapped it up accordingly. Close-ups on Enzo Maresca as he met the fans and one of Erling Haaland that was practically invasive. Lads, who will, of course, stay loyal to them when Champions League football is taken away.
One anodyne interview later and it was back to the studio to witness a cloying hagiography. Micah Richards, Daniel Sturridge (who at least had the decency to look uncomfortable), Roy Keane and Mark Chapman played a game of ‘Let’s Not Mention the Other Thing’ and talked about City’s solidarity and professionalism.
True, they may be thinking about sub judice and the prospect of damaging a fair appeal, but City have already been found guilty, and it’s alright to say so. The whole thing was sickening to behold. Not a single ‘yes, but’ from any of them.
The most significant day? One of the lowest, maybe.
Concentrate on the cups and Europe, boys. The league isn’t a league anymore. None of this matters till it’s all over.
I thought Lewis Koumas was great.
