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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Liverpool v Manchester City: Premier League – live! | Liverpool v Manchester City: Premier League – live! |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Minute-by-minute report: It’s the biggest match of the Premier League season thus far, as the league leaders meet the champions. Join Simon Burnton | Minute-by-minute report: It’s the biggest match of the Premier League season thus far, as the league leaders meet the champions. Join Simon Burnton |
| 63 mins: Fabinho finds himself in a pocket of space. Shooooot! Screams the crowd. His shot is blocked. | |
| 61 mins: Jordan Henderson comes off, presumably so he can have more time to endlessly replay that cross and/or backheel flick in his imagination. Milner is on. | |
| 60 mins: Henderson executes a showy backheel flicked pass to Mane. | |
| 59 mins: I find De Bruyne’s facial hair extremely unconvincing. Not as unconvincing as the City defence, but not far off. | |
| 57 mins: Liverpool are purring now, whenever they have the ball. They like a kitten toying with a half-dead mouse. | |
| 54 mins: Sterling cuts in from the left, feints to shoot, feints again, cuts in a bit more, feints to shoot again, eventually decides he should probably actually shoot, and then has a shot that deflects wide. | |
| 53 mins: More dodgy defending down the left from City there, mind. Henderson picked up the ball 20 yards from the byline, and just ran in a straight line. Gundogan kept up with him for a while but then gave up, leaving Angelino, who had presumably decided that Gundogan had this under control, behind the play and helpless. | |
| Liverpool score a third! It’s a gorgeous Henderson cross, and Mane stoops to head in at the back stick! Bravo gets two hands to it, but can only fumble it in! | |
| 48 mins: On Sky, Geoff Shreeves says he was surrounded at half-time by City coaches, demanding to know why they hadn’t been given a penalty. Hopefully they aren’t totally distracted by vengeful frustration, because they could certainly still score a couple of goals here. | |
| 46 mins: They’re off! | |
| The Premier League has released a statement about the handball incident: | |
| So there you go. Now, on with the game: both sides are back on the field and ready for action. | |
| Sky’s punditry panel of Roy Keane, Graeme Souness, Jose Mourinho and Vincent Kompany all think that Alexander-Arnold handballed and City should have had a penalty. | |
| “If there was no VAR I highly doubt that the hand ball would of been called, nor would the offside against Salah been whistled. In other words, it would still be two-nil,” says Mary Waltz. This is clearly true. | |
| Alexander-Arnold’s left-footed crossfield pass to Robertson in the build-up to Liverpool’s second can also go on the wall, incidentally. | |
| Simon Yates has had a good think about that handball call: | |
| “Coming to this a bit late, but isn’t the TAA handball exactly the situation which we were worrying about when the rules were tweaked?” he writes. “If the ball hits the hand of a member of the attacking side in the move leading to a goal, the goal is now supposed to be disallowed for handball regardless of intent etc. So on that basis you should disallow Fabinho’s goal for TAA’s handball. Even though the handball was in the Liverpool area. But having given handball you then have to give the penalty even though the handball doesn’t meet the criteria for a penalty, where you don’t give it if the arm isn’t in an unnatural position.” | |
| Well this is confusing. I think the Alexander-Arnold handball didn’t happen close enough to the Fabinho shot in either time or space for today’s crack refereeing unit to take it into account. | |
| The VAR team, incidentally, say the arm was not in an unnatural position, and the ball came at him too quickly. | |
| 45+3 mins: Peeeeep! City were hilariously dominant for 10 minutes or so, yet they somehow still managed to be two down in the 13th, mainly because this back four aren’t much cop at defending. It’s been a lot of fun. | 45+3 mins: Peeeeep! City were hilariously dominant for 10 minutes or so, yet they somehow still managed to be two down in the 13th, mainly because this back four aren’t much cop at defending. It’s been a lot of fun. |
| 45+2 mins: With four seconds of those two minutes remaining, Aguero has another shot, but it’s weak and easily saved. | 45+2 mins: With four seconds of those two minutes remaining, Aguero has another shot, but it’s weak and easily saved. |
| 45+1 mins: Into first-half stoppage time, of which there’ll be about two minutes. | 45+1 mins: Into first-half stoppage time, of which there’ll be about two minutes. |
| 45 mins: Bravo stops another one! This time it was Salah’s curler from 20 yards, which was neither powerful enough nor precise enough to sneak into the corner. | 45 mins: Bravo stops another one! This time it was Salah’s curler from 20 yards, which was neither powerful enough nor precise enough to sneak into the corner. |
| 43 mins: Incidentally we have now been shown a still from the build-up to the Salah goal with the requisite offside-demonstrating blue line, and it’s all good. | 43 mins: Incidentally we have now been shown a still from the build-up to the Salah goal with the requisite offside-demonstrating blue line, and it’s all good. |
| 42 mins: Aguero is played into the left side of Liverpool’s penalty area, but his shot zips across goal and wide. | 42 mins: Aguero is played into the left side of Liverpool’s penalty area, but his shot zips across goal and wide. |
| 40 mins: Salah is released down the right an tries to skip inside Fernandinho, who takes the ball with a clean sliding challenge. But the Egyptian goes down hurt, and the physio is looking at his foot/ankle area again. | 40 mins: Salah is released down the right an tries to skip inside Fernandinho, who takes the ball with a clean sliding challenge. But the Egyptian goes down hurt, and the physio is looking at his foot/ankle area again. |
| 38 mins: Bravo saves a shot! It’s Firmino’s effort, stuck left-footed straight at him. Alexander-Arnold created the opportunity, after producing a touch to control Alisson’s clearance that was so beautiful I want to frame it and hang it in my bedroom so it’s the first thing I see every morning when I wake up and reminds me of beauty, poetry and the potential of humankind. | 38 mins: Bravo saves a shot! It’s Firmino’s effort, stuck left-footed straight at him. Alexander-Arnold created the opportunity, after producing a touch to control Alisson’s clearance that was so beautiful I want to frame it and hang it in my bedroom so it’s the first thing I see every morning when I wake up and reminds me of beauty, poetry and the potential of humankind. |
| 35 mins: Liverpool attack again. Salah runs free on the left this time; his cross towards Wijnaldum is headed to Firmino, who jinks into the area and then shoots high. | 35 mins: Liverpool attack again. Salah runs free on the left this time; his cross towards Wijnaldum is headed to Firmino, who jinks into the area and then shoots high. |
| 34 mins: They win a corner. Robertson takes, and Lovren glances it across goal and wide. | 34 mins: They win a corner. Robertson takes, and Lovren glances it across goal and wide. |
| 33 mins: Sky’s commentary team is laying into Angelino, as Liverpool attack down the right again. | 33 mins: Sky’s commentary team is laying into Angelino, as Liverpool attack down the right again. |
| 29 mins: City hit the post! It’s Angelino, who bumbles through the area and has a rubbish shot, which deflects off Van Dijk’s shin and becomes much better, but still doesn’t go in. Corner. | 29 mins: City hit the post! It’s Angelino, who bumbles through the area and has a rubbish shot, which deflects off Van Dijk’s shin and becomes much better, but still doesn’t go in. Corner. |
| “Have we had one of those VAR photos yet with zig zag lines confirming Salah onside for the second goal?” wonders Adam. We have not, just a rushed freeze-frame in which Salah looked suspiciously offside-ish to me. I’m sure he was actually onside though, because the only alternative is that everything is broken and rotten and ruined. | “Have we had one of those VAR photos yet with zig zag lines confirming Salah onside for the second goal?” wonders Adam. We have not, just a rushed freeze-frame in which Salah looked suspiciously offside-ish to me. I’m sure he was actually onside though, because the only alternative is that everything is broken and rotten and ruined. |
| 27 mins: City’s defence is bearing gifts. They half-clear the ball straight to Salah, standing all alone on the edge of the area, but then he passes to Firmino and the ball is nicked away. | 27 mins: City’s defence is bearing gifts. They half-clear the ball straight to Salah, standing all alone on the edge of the area, but then he passes to Firmino and the ball is nicked away. |
| 25 mins: Save! Aguero does some fine work to not only keep the ball in a crowded area but somehow fashion space for a shot, but it’s all for nought because Alisson saves it. | 25 mins: Save! Aguero does some fine work to not only keep the ball in a crowded area but somehow fashion space for a shot, but it’s all for nought because Alisson saves it. |
| 23 mins: Fabinho trips Gundogan, and somehow gets away without a booking. Just so City fans know where to direct their hate mail, the VAR today is Paul Tierney, with the assistant VAR Constantine Hatzidakis. Also, don’t send hate mail. Play nice. | 23 mins: Fabinho trips Gundogan, and somehow gets away without a booking. Just so City fans know where to direct their hate mail, the VAR today is Paul Tierney, with the assistant VAR Constantine Hatzidakis. Also, don’t send hate mail. Play nice. |
| 21 mins: Liverpool threaten again, but Wijnaldum’s ball into the area is cleared for a corner, which it also cleared. | 21 mins: Liverpool threaten again, but Wijnaldum’s ball into the area is cleared for a corner, which it also cleared. |
| 18 mins: Liverpool pass the ball around their defence for a while. “Whether the handball should have led to a penalty or not, if I were a City fan, I’d be furious with Agüero,” says Matt Dony. “Play to the whistle. Always play to the whistle. The ball fell almost to his feet, but he was too busy screaming at the ref and and allowed Van Dijk to simply step away from him. Basics. Inexcusable.” | 18 mins: Liverpool pass the ball around their defence for a while. “Whether the handball should have led to a penalty or not, if I were a City fan, I’d be furious with Agüero,” says Matt Dony. “Play to the whistle. Always play to the whistle. The ball fell almost to his feet, but he was too busy screaming at the ref and and allowed Van Dijk to simply step away from him. Basics. Inexcusable.” |
| 16 mins: The penalty call continues to cause controversy. “This is a distinctly uncharitable theory, but could this last VARce be down to an unwillingness to rule out such a truly stonking hit to call a penalty at the other end?” wonders Matt Richman. “You would fear for Michael Oliver if that was the case.” The way the ball struck Alexander-Arnold was extremely penaltyesque, but I just don’t think you can win a penalty by punching the ball into a defender’s arm, however accidental the attacker’s punch might have been. | 16 mins: The penalty call continues to cause controversy. “This is a distinctly uncharitable theory, but could this last VARce be down to an unwillingness to rule out such a truly stonking hit to call a penalty at the other end?” wonders Matt Richman. “You would fear for Michael Oliver if that was the case.” The way the ball struck Alexander-Arnold was extremely penaltyesque, but I just don’t think you can win a penalty by punching the ball into a defender’s arm, however accidental the attacker’s punch might have been. |
| 14 mins: He was onside! Liverpool are two goals up, and City are attacking beautifully but not defending at all. | 14 mins: He was onside! Liverpool are two goals up, and City are attacking beautifully but not defending at all. |