Liverpool fans should blame Luis Diaz and not referees for failure

Editor F365
Luis Diaz takes on Kyle Walker for Liverpool v Man City
Luis Diaz takes on Kyle Walker for Liverpool v Man City

Liverpool fans are looking in the wrong direction for somebody to blame for the draw v Man City. We have loads more title race fall-out noise.

Send your views to theeditor@football365.com

 

No penalty though
A preface: I know what it’s like to experience partisan myopia. We all feel it; when a decision goes against your team, especially in the last minute of deep stoppage time, it’s incredibly frustrating. When it happens to Liverpool, for whom everything Means More, I can only imagine that feeling is intensified (but I’m speculating there; I support a mere mortal team for whom everything, I now understand, is less important).

With that out of the way, here’s my personal, neutral take on that Doku penalty incident: yes, you’ve seen them given, but there are several mitigating factors that meant the decision to not award the penalty was correct, in my opinion.

1. Clearly, Doku touches the ball first.

2. Yes, it was a risky challenge – but he was waiting for the ball to drop, and it came down to a sufficient height.

3. This is the really important point for me: Mac Allister was looking for it. He led with his arm (probably would have been a handball by Mac Allister if Doku had missed the ball and Mac Allister had got the first touch) because he saw Doku eyeing up the ball and decided to throw his leading body part (his shoulder/arm) into the action, to engineer contact. It’s not so different from the Havertz incident, in that sense – only he was successful, where Havertz wasn’t, in getting the opponent’s boot into him.

No penalty. Move on.
Dane

 

Why all the fuss about a difficult decision?
This morning’s mailbox
debating the non-penalty award seems to have missed a crucial point. The fact is, this was a huge game in the context of the PL season, the scores were level and there were minutes remaining and then something happened where the referee (and then the VAR) had to make a difficult and massive decision. This is one of the beauties of the game! A moment of drama and controversy that actually matters!

It’s hardly the Michael Oliver’s fault that he had that decision to make, is it? If he’d given the penalty then City’s fans would have felt just as aggrieved as Liverpool’s do now. Obviously a bit less noisily because there’s fewer of them, but that shouldn’t matter. It was a judgement call at the end of the day, damned if it’s given, damned if it isn’t. Who’d be a referee? That’s another debate, but let’s not all scream conspiracy just because an important decision went the other way.

Only one Liverpool fan wrote in to “complain” that Diaz missed a fantastic chance to put Liverpool 2-1 up (and even that felt like a sidenote to their moan about the non-penalty). You’d all seriously rather have a pop at the official with the impossible job rather than the striker who failed to do the thing he’s in the team to do? Doesn’t seem like this is what watching football should be about.
Rob, Surrey

 

When do Liverpool get their apology?
Does anyone know what time the usual apology will be given to Liverpool fans for the non-award of the penalty against Doku?

It’s massively frustrating as City continue to benefit from these type of decisions. I can remember the Rodri handball vs Everton a few seasons ago, when City won the title by a point which was not given.

This season alone, Liverpool have been robbed is the Spurs game by at least 1, if not 3 points, the Arsenal game, where Odegaard was not penalised for a blatant handball and now the Doku non-award. The fact that 2 of these “errors” have been against direct challengers for the title means that the points swing if they were awarded would be 7 or 9 points.

What will happen is that City will beat Arsenal, and end up winning the league by 1 or 3 points and Pep will again be hailed as the greatest ever. He is no doubt a great manager, but if Klopp were to have won the previous one for the Rodri handball, and this year’s title, and left with 3 titles, would that not have changed the thinking on the greatest manager, especially with Klopp having achieved this with far less resources.
Shiraz (Diaz needs to learn to finish off chances), Johannesburg

 

Hang on…worrabout…?
Patricio Del Toro, when listing ‘contentious’ refereeing decisions in recent years during games between City and Liverpool, seems to have forgotten a few. Such as; the ridiculous decision to rule out the Dias goal which would have put us 2-0 up at the Etihad this season because Akanji breathed too closely to Allison, Milner inexplicably not getting a red card for cleaning out Foden THREE times in the first half at Anfield in the 2-2 draw in 21/21, Fabinho not receiving a 2nd yellow in the return fixture at The Etihad, and not to mention the TWO blatant penalties City didn’t get at Anfield a couple of seasons earlier (the first of which coming a few seconds before Liverpool went up the other end to open the scoring).

I’d have thought he’d have particularly remembered that last one because Liverpool fans thought it so amusing they made a funny little meme out of it.

In conclusion, perhaps PMGOL HAVEN’T got it in for particular teams, despite some fans thinking there is a ‘conspiracy’ against their team and in favour of their rivals. (See also commentators, pundits, journalists etc)
Michael The Bert

 

Liverpool optimist prime
While most match narratives will be about all the should-haves:

– Diaz should have buried his chances

– We should have been awarded a penalty when Doku went all Hulk Hogan on McAllister
Etc.

I’d like to point to the future.

While Arsenal sit on top on goal difference, the weekend result is the best result we could still get…

Arsenal have City, Spurs and ManU away, Chelsea at home too, so either they go on an unforeseen rampage and trample the above teams in their backyard or they drop points (My bet is on the latter)

That leaves Us and City. The only banana skin City have is Spurs away, Arsenal holding them at the Etihad will be a bonus. Rest they look primed for maximum points.

We have Old Trafford away that maybe the banana skin for us, and the rest seem games that we should be looking at maximum points.

The key is how far can we keep City from the top.

Now this is the Premier League and all the entitlement that comes being a big club supporter of decades could be squashed by any of the teams in the league for any of the Top 3 clubs.

It’s going to be a fun ride.
Mihir Nair. LFC. (It’s a marathon, not a sprint)

MEDIAWATCH: Jurgen Klopp handed ‘moral victory’ in ‘best 1-1 draw you will ever witness’

 

Hating on Will Ford
I suppose it says everything about the level of writers at F365 these days, that it’s probably for the best that they’re reduced to silly “5 reasons De Bruyne is actually City’s biggest PROBLEM” type articles. But it’s a shame that those aren’t balanced out with more in depth writing or tactical analysis. And no, I don’t think “LFC-City = USA vs UAE” or articles trying to imply that Liverpool-City has been a one-sided rivalry (yes City have been more successful, and consistent, but that’s both self-evident and not the same as “one-sided”) as either in-depth or particularly interesting for anyone outside of football twitter and the like.

I saw a comment somewhere that the only decent content on the site these days is the Mailbox…can’t say I disagree!

City-Liverpool was a brilliant game, a brilliant start from City who were utterly unphased by the fervour of Anfield. But whatever Klopp said at HT, plus a penalty at the right moment, and the second half was perhaps the best I’ve seen Liverpool play against City. While several match reports implied that Liverpool hung on in the 2nd half, it was surely City who were happiest at the end of the half. If only Diaz’s finishing matched his dribbling and effort, that and his tendency to look up too late and miss the moment for the right pass means he so often frustrates despite his talent and work.
Henry, LFC
(Yes, I’m talking about Will Ford, he’s crap, look at the list of articles he’s churning out. Go back to planet football where you belong please.)

 

Maybe Man City tried to care too much?
Just wondering if Will Ford or anyone else would like to review their position on the wisdom of Trent’s comments last week – that it ‘handed Manchester City all the motivation they need’ in Ford’s view. A less Ferdinandian analysis at the time might have considered that the idea was to introduce an emotional element to the cold-blooded Man City machine. And guess what? Ederson lost his head, Bernardo Silva lost his rag and de Bruyne lost his toys, as City went to pieces in the second half and were lucky to escape with a point after leading 1-0.

Whether it actually means more to them or not is/was irrelevant – perhaps the fact that City felt the need to show it was part of the reason they lost control of a game that they were odds on to win at half time (not clear if Trent did ‘Pep’s team talk for him’ at that point).
Shappo

 

Man City not all that
Well folks, that is how you play City!

Don’t let them play. Go at them, press them, and don’t let them bore you to death with their relentless passing. They can’t handle it, and Ederson always loses his collective sh1t when he’s pressed, as was proven by my man Darwizzy.

Just don’t expect to beat the PGMOL and City (115 everlasting charges) at the same time, especially with a full on, studs flying assault in injury time.

Oh, and apparently, it’s cool to block at a corner now, but it wasn’t at Wembley a few weeks ago. Nothing to see at Stockley Park, they were fighting over the remote for Netflix!

You’re welcome.

It very nearly Meant More!

FFS!
Norbert Klopp (LFC until May 2024)

READ: 16 Conclusions on brilliant Liverpool 1 Manchester City 1

 

A pro-Klopp conspiracy, is it?
Remember everyone, there is a giant conspiracy to ensure that Klopp wins the Premier League in his final season. And these shadowy powers didn’t give a penalty at the end because…reasons? I’d love to think this would put to bed the nonsense, but I know exactly what we’ll hear the next time a 50/50 goes in Liverpool’s favour.
Mike, LFC, Dubai

 

This means more? Does it balls
First-time writer and was introduced to F365 since 2008.

I am getting tired of “this means more” narrative.

Winning the title will always mean more to anyone who wins it.

Liverpool fans keep going on and on and on about why it would mean more.

As an Arsenal fan first of all, my team hasn’t won a league title for the past 20yrs, whereas these two have won it in the past 5-6 years.

Look at the heartache we experienced towards the end of last season and look how we’re still in the thick of it. You’ll have to be heartless if you feel it wouldn’t mean more to us.
Mando Moyikwa in RSA (I’ve always wanted to do brackets too)

 

Even Stewie defends Arsenal
Hell might well have frozen over because I’m going to break the habit of a lifetime, and partially stick up for Arsenal 😳

Lee’s email is replete with unsubstantiated nonsense. The insinuation that it’s “been harder for Liverpool” is precisely the same sort of nonsense I have lambasted Arsenal fans for in the past. I’ll repeat a very simple point: injuries are part and parcel of football. It is for the birds to claim “if Player X had been fit we’d have 10 points more etc”. There is zero evidence to suggest that this is ever the case.

If eg Salah or Haaland are missing for Liverpool or Citeh – yes those are Huge players. But then have you ever considered that missing such marquee players can conversely make Liverpool and Citeh less predictable to play against? Opposing teams might be less inclined to set up in a low block, and might eg risk a high line, given that the pace of Salah/Haaland isn’t there to worry about?

As I’ve said on here before, various Arsenal fans have made the specious claim that “if Saliba had not been injured” last season, Arsenal would have won the league.

William Saliba is a top class defender, in the PFA Team of the Year and one of the best CBs in Europe based on form of the past 18 months. But the ultimate point is, injuries occur and you have to mitigate against these – all top clubs do. There are no additional Humanitarian Points awarded for winning the PL “the harder route”.

That is entirely subjective and is usually based on how red the tints on your glasses are/ how much cannabis you’ve consumed. You either win the PL or you don’t. Attempting to annotate PL trophies with Fake accolades isn’t the one lads!

Arsenal had injuries last season and didn’t cope. This season they’ve clearly managed their injury workload better – and if, )by Lee’s admission) the players missing for Arsenal are such non-entities who wouldn’t get in any of the top 6 (Partey, Tomiyasu and even liability Zinchenko wouldn’t get in the ManYoo or Villa team?

Have you watched ManYoo play football at any point in the past 2-3 years??) – that’s effectively another way of admitting that Arsenal are in the even More precarious position of relying solely on a small core 11 group of players. Right? Yet within that core set they’ve still had injuries to Martinelli, Saka and Jesus (though that one is a blessing in disguise lol).

Yet they’re still competing – whereas Liverpool, who according to your logic cope far better with huge injuries (errrr meaning a deeper squad then right?!) deserve the Lifetime Achievement Award for the Fallen valiant Brigade of the injured? Hmm.

There’s an additional point to perhaps be made as to why Liverpool seem to be suffering such a raft of muscular injuries (Thiago, Salah, Alisson, Bajcetic – is it the intensity of training? Age in certain cases?).

Ultimately, whoever wins the PL does so because they have managed to outperform the division, playing twice against everyone over 38 matches. What Leicester did was sensational but you don’t hear a single person accrue additional Fake Titles for “doing it on a shoestring”. Ultimately, they won a League title, and that is the accolade in the history books. No qualifications for “Being harder” or “Meaning more” ever go in the Pantheon.

The only part of Lee’s email that is coherent is when he says that Arsenal will not win anything and will almost certainly fall back after the usual Etihad humping 😉
Stewie Griffin (to balance this out, hilarious seeing certain people shoot their load over Havertz. Was decent, v Brentford. Although, he didn’t hit the target from a few yards out in a one on one in 34th minute. So instead of killing the match so Arsenal expend less energy, the team had to frantically tire itself out – whereas if Havertz was clinical, match was done 35 minutes in, play possession football and focus on Porto. Citeh do this well, it’s why they always seem “less tired” at the business end. They kill teams off!)

 

A neutral Manchester United fan? Really?
Can we just discuss for a second how Rami from Dubai can write these two things in the same mail:

“Even as a United fan” followed by “but as a neutral I am” in the next paragraph:

You can’t be both, mate. You just can’t. If you’re a United fan, there is absolutely no doubt that you’re rooting for Arsenal in that race. If you’re a neutral, don’t call yourself a United fan.

Yeah, it’s a thrilling title race, but not thrilling enough that you develop two personalities within two paragraphs.
Kim, Copenhagen

 

Let’s hear it for the Moyes
My opinion of David Moyes as our manager is perhaps a little more nuanced than Mike WHU’s, but I did find myself nodding to many of the points he raised.

Then I reached the point where he was described as a succubus. My life will never be the same, and not in a good way.
Uncle Albert