Nothing Understandable
It became unavoidable
I hate talking about referees. We all do. The game is full of enough nonsense. Anything that detracts from the stuff that matters draws an understandable ire. The players we love and the managers we adore act as welcome distractions from life and these detractions aren’t why we got involved with this sport.
READ MORE: Life After Jurgen by Adam Beattie
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This weekend it became unavoidable. Fans of our oldest and most bitter rivals felt compelled to jump to our defense following perhaps the most monumental cock-up the Premier League has seen since the introduction of VAR. This technology, by the way, was brought in to make the officials’ lives easier. VAR’s purpose is to eliminate errors that are annoying but understandable.
Understandable No Longer Applies
There was nothing understandable about Saturday. There was a sheer lack of common sense coupled with a desire to save face. Premier League referees are looking increasingly like they are a part of one big boy’s club. Their continued attempts to cover each other’s backs are failing. It just serves to make them look ever-so-more incompetent.
I’ve followed my opening line with 150 words about referees, so that’ll do for me. It’s more than enough off my chest.
What Saturday did do was give us a reminder of just how defiant these Reds can be. The reaction of the players and supporters at the end demonstrated that we are more connected than ever. An angry Liverpool is a dangerous Liverpool.
No Excuses, Screw Apologies
We may have lost out on a valuable point in the dying seconds. However, it was one of our bravest performances of recent times with just nine men on the pitch. In the long term, this could play right into our hands.
“No excuses” was Jurgen Klopp’s message at the start of the calendar year. You sense he had very little time for it after Saturday’s shitshow. The manager is no stranger to giving referees both barrels when they deserve it. But on this day he chose to focus many of his post-match words on how proud he was of his team.
It is natural to be angry, particularly as fans who invest so much of our time and energy into this game. But the players don’t have time for it and will use this to drive them rather than detriment them.
Putting Things In Perspective
To sit just two points off the top of the table having already traveled to Chelsea, Newcastle, and Tottenham, not to mention picking up FOUR reds cards thus far on the year, is nothing short of brilliant from a squad that was written off all summer.
This is our team. The more officials try and make themselves more important than they are, the more the Reds will show themselves to be the main characters.
We can go all the way this season and, even though it is still a little sore, we might just look back on the events at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as a positive come May.
UP THE REDS!
