It was only last January that the Liverpool faithful thought the end was nigh when Jürgen Klopp announced he’d be leaving come the conclusion of the season. Now? “It’s beginning to look a Slot like Christmas” as the tune goes.
And it was only in May that Manchester City won their fourth Premier League title in a row and it looked like the tyranny would never end. Now? Pep Guardiola is scratching the face off himself in frustration.
So, it is indeed a funny old game.
“This is men against boys,” said Gary Neville when Liverpool were pulverising Pep’s lads in that first half at Anfield, City playing less like a drive-for-five outfit and more like something you’d see in League Two. Which is where they might end up, of course, if the verdict is guilty on those 115 charges.
Before the game Sky’s Patrick Davison had a chat with Pep, one that had more of a feel of a counselling session than an interview. Patrick wondered, in so many words, why Pep was melting down when his managerial record suggested he should be able to correct this blip. “You cannot imagine how much I get paid,” said Pep, evidently weighed down by his pay packet.
Our host David Jones was joined by Micah Richards, Daniel Sturridge and Roy Keane (in the studio, not in the car park), asking them if it would be a case of “they haven’t gone away, you know” for City, or would Liverpool extend their misery. The lads weren’t sure, but edged towards the latter.
It edged further still towards the latter in those opening 12 minutes. “This is a 0-0 battering,” said Gary, but then Mo Salah threaded a camel through the eye of a needle and Cody Gakpo was in heaven: 1-0.
The second didn’t come until the 78th minute, Mo doing his Exocet missile penalty thing, Anfield bellowing “you’re getting sacked in the morning”.
It’s probably best to ignore this class of goading, but Pep held up six fingers in response, in reference to his six Premier League titles, suggesting that he needed another counselling session with Patrick. The Kop possibly held up seven fingers to represent how many games it’s been since City last won.
Mo Salah of Liverpool celebrates after scoring the second goal against Manchester City at Anfield. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Mo Salah of Liverpool celebrates after scoring the second goal against Manchester City at Anfield. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
“Suddenly there’s a canyon between two of the grandest in the land,” said Peter Drury, which should have prompted one of those legendary Gary groans, but he let it pass.
The only downbeat note for said Liverpool faithful was Mo cranking up his negotiations for a new contract in his post-match chat by hinting that this might be his last game at Anfield against City.
His mood was lifted, though, by being named man of the match. If it was his uber critic Jamie Carragher who decided it, he suggested, it would have gone to someone else. “Mo laying down the gauntlet there,” said David. “I’ll see him in the car park,” said Jamie. Even Roy chuckled heartily.
“I don’t think there’s any way back for Manchester City now,” Jamie reckoned. “I think they might even have a fight on their hands for top four.” This clip will go viral if the drive-for-five proves successful.
Still that there’s only four points between Manchester City and Manchester United and 11 between them and Liverpool, suggests this is the mother, father, auntie and uncle of all crises.
Pep has a job on his hands, then, as do the rest of us who are trying to figure out how he and Andy Farrell can belong to the same species. Andy, it would seem, doesn’t do meltdowns when matters malfunction, as they did a bit in that first half against Australia.
To the untrained eye it wasn’t the most exhilarating of spectacles, it featuring, as Matt Williams put it on Virgin Media, “a lot of dumb rugby”. “The taste that leaves in the mouth,” said Shane Horgan, “is not a great one”.
“Maybe we’re all getting a bit greedy, it IS a win for Ireland,” Joe Molloy noted, lest the viewers suspected our boys had been throttled.
The highlight of the day was TNT Sport’s Craig Doyle walking from the RDS to the Aviva with Brian O’Driscoll, and TNT Sport’s Sarra Elgan Rees walking from somewhere else in Ballsbridge to the stadium with Simon Zebo. Craig and BOD bumped into Donncha O’Callaghan along the way, and Sarra and Simon stumbled upon Niamh Briggs. Was there a taxi shortage in the area?