Manchester City players obliterated – ‘no shame or no short-term memory’

Manchester City players have been slammed for celebrating victory over Liverpool at Anfield – what exactly were they expected to do?

But first, another victim of City’s cheating wants what he is owed.

Paul the other one
There are a great many individuals who have been personally and professionally impacted by Manchester City’s cheating. Paul Pogba is not one who immediately comes to mind ahead of your Steven Gerrards and the Mauricio Pochettinos of this world, but as a Premier League rival around this time, he does have a weighty voice all the same.

But this is pure nonsense from the MailOnline:

‘Pogba was once the main man at United, a key cog in two teams that went toe-to-toe with City at their very peak. But he came out on the wrong side of the fight to the juggernaut on both occasions, with the Red Devils coming second to their rivals in both the 2017-18 and 2020-21 campaigns.’

A reminder that Manchester United ‘went toe-to-toe with City’ to the extent that they finished 19 and 12 points behind in those seasons; the former remains a Premier League record for biggest gap between the champions and runners-up.

Manchester United were a laughably distant second both times. They were not ‘near-misses’.

Smells like preen spirit
Elsewhere in the Daily Mail, Oliver Holt is condemning ‘the preening triumphalism of Man City stars at Anfield’ as they proved ‘they do not have a scintilla of self-awareness between them’.

Don’t hold back, Oli. Tell us how you really feel.

He damns the Manchester City players, coaches and staff for celebrating ‘with the unabashed glee of a gang of fools’, adding that ‘now was really not the time’ for their ‘peacock walk’.

‘What has happened at City, the crisis that has enveloped the club, is not on the players,’ he adds.

‘We know that. Nor is it on the fans. It is on owners who thought they could do what they want and are now appalled that they are being held to account. But when your club has been found guilty of something as serious and far-reaching as City, Sunday’s scenes were not a good look.’

Sorry, but at this point we do sort of have to ask precisely what the Manchester City players were supposed to do after beating Liverpool at Anfield, having been berated and vilified for 90 minutes?

Should Erling Haaland and Elliot Anderson have been forced to strip naked and walk through the city while Virgil van Dijk walked behind them, ringing a bell and chanting ‘shame’?

You yourself say this ‘is not on the players’, so how are they getting pelters for celebrating winning an admittedly potentially meaningless game of football with their own fans? The scale of the club’s cheating is absurd, damning and absolutely ruinous, but being happy about winning is ‘not a good look’? Make that 116 charges.

‘The scenes of City’s jubilation in front of the Anfield Road End at the final whistle felt as if they were the actions of players who either had no shame or no short-term memory.’

They were, again, the natural and understandable actions of professional footballers who are going to be forced each week for at least the rest of this season to take the brunt of the public criticism for something they did not do. If you expected them to beat Liverpool and then walk around Anfield begging for forgiveness from each individual supporter then you are a fool; they were obviously going to celebrate and can’t really be blamed for doing so.

‘If Brian Clough were still with us, he’d be telling these City players that they should chuck their medals in the bin. And maybe he’d be pointing out to them that when they won at Anfield on Sunday, no one else felt like celebrating.’

Of course ‘no one else felt like celebrating’. Why would they? Do they usually?

Between one prominent journalist suggesting they ‘have nothing left to play for’ and ‘motivation will be close to zero’ before the game, to another slamming them for celebrating victory after, it doesn’t half feel like people are forgetting these non-guilty footballers are actual humans rather than pantomime villain lightning rods.

And the reason is you
Manchester City continuing to be good at football in spite of what has happened does appear to have come as quite a shock. The rush to have their punishment handed down now has begun.

We have a John Cross piece in the Daily Mirror titled ‘Man City have to be punished now before the Premier League is damaged beyond repair’, and Martin Lipton in The Sun arguing that ‘Premier League lawyers should be pushing for the “sanctions” hearing to be held immediately’.

It is a quaint idea, but an absolute non-starter for really quite obvious reasons.

‘When Everton and Nottingham Forest committed breaches of Profitability and Sustainability Rules, the initial points-deduction punishments were imposed on the table pending their successful appeals.

‘There is no reason, at all, that the same cannot happen with City.’

Agreed. ‘There is no reason, at all,’ that the method by which Everton and Nottingham Forest were relatively quickly punished for two and one FFP charges respectively should not simply be repeated for Manchester City’s 114 charges and almost a decade’s worth of deliberate cheating, which might result in a points deduction but could also incur far more severe penalties.

A quick question for Lipton and others suddenly demanding these instant sanctions: if the decision is made to expel Manchester City now, how do you propose that is enforced mid-season, and subject to an appeal? Answers on a postcard and sent to Richard Masters, please.

Our house, in the middle of our street
Some stunning housery from the Daily Mirror website here:

‘Erling Haaland buys house in new country just a week after Man City guilty verdict’

Well sh*t. He’s off. This is massive. The exodus begins.

‘Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has confirmed that he has bought a new property in Abu Dhabi. His new house is on the Ohana development, a project by Ohana Residences in collaboration with City.’

Oh for fu…

Get Inter ’em
‘JJ Gabriel drops hint over next club as wantaway Man Utd wonderkid trains’ – The Sun.

He wore a pair of Inter shorts from two seasons ago. Welcome to the San Siro, fella.

Love me tender
Behold, the single strangest description of Olivier Giroud, from The Sun:

‘He has already announced he will retire next summer but is still producing the goods at his tender age.’

No, not having that about a 40-year-old. Sorry.