Ok. I've had time to calm down and distance myself from the heightened emotion of the game.
Several things.
Oh, and I don't care if you don't read this because it's too long, or you think I'm just moaning. It's a football forum. Of course I'm fucking moaning. It's what we do. It's what it's for. I'm just getting a bad loss off my chest. Once we're done here, we all move on together as City fans.
Pep. Is Pep a great manager? Undoubtedly - his style of play and management of the vast majority of his games hace brought unbelievable levels of success to this club. Is he infallible? Clearly not. His 'experimentation' with both player positions and tactics in 'Big' games has cost City possibly 3 CL titles in the 7 years he has managed the club.
Players. 9 of the 11 had relatively poor games. The only player who comes out of that game with real credit is Bernardo. City will be a much poorer team when that lose him next summer.
Tactics. Usually it is the slow pace of play that indicates City are going to have a bad one. On Sunday, the pace displayed by Liverpool was fast and panicked City's midfield and defense. Our attacking players failed to engage with Liverpool's defense, back- or side-passing instead of applying pressure and running at Milner and Gomes. City play too high a line to permit the luxury of only one defensive presence to take care of breaks/counter attacks. In reality, by the end of the game the Dippers should have been at least 3 goals clear of City, but they failed to capitalise on the several overloads that had in the final third of the game.
Substitutions. Haaland was very sub par, and should have been replaced by Alvarez after 60 minutes. Sticking him on in the 88th minute is an insult to the player. Pep seems bound to the idea that the players who start the game need to dig themselves out of the holes they create. Gundog, Haaland and KDB should have made way for Grealish, Alvarez and Palmer, with Bernie taking over Kev's role in the hole, Phil switching to the right wing and Bernie running the show with his drive and distribution.
VAR. Three things I need to say about WAR.
1. VAR is working perfectly. It's the inconsistent interpretation of player actions and application of the laws of the game that allows the officials to effectively bolster whichever batshit crazy decision they want to make. Rewinding the tape in order to find a suitable reason for disallowing a goal needs to have the same consistency that should apply to all incidents. The referee allowed a string of physical tackles to slide for both teams, yet dropped the bar when such physicality played a part in possibly shaping the result of the game - our goal.
2. I've not watched the game again (I'm not sure I have the heart to do so), but there is supposedly a possible handball by Salah as he turns Cancelo and runs in on Eddy for their goal. No sign of VAR pressing rewind to see if anything was iffy about this action...
3. I'm convinced that the VAR officials in Stockley Park are being influenced by the commentators describing play. Carrigher or Neville throw in their judgement/opinion, and the VAR officials let themselves be swayed by these voices. If it isn't the case that the officials get a commentary-stripped feed, then it should be.
...and finally...
Grammar
The correct forms of contraction for "could have", "would have", "should have" etc, are "could've", "would've" and "should've", NOT "could of", "would of" or "should of". My grandad didn't fight a war to see this kind of lax English usage.
But then come to think of it, he didn't fight in the war at all.
Fuxache.
Shrug it off, stay away from the sports coverage on the telly, radio and in the papers, and come back next week. We go again. Come the end of the season, we should still be there or thereabouts in every competition. The last 10 years have been a golden age for MCFC. We are lucky to have witnessed and been a part of it, and we are lucky it has lasted as long as it has. Enjoy the big picture, Blues - this City team has been the dominant force in British football for a decade, and we have seen some of the best football ever played anywhere, right here on our own pitch. It won't last forever. It can't last forever, but as long as it does, savour it. We'll need to use the memory of it to sustain us when our current era of success has subsided, and Newcastle are winning all our trophies...
