Anfield had the noise ready before a ball was kicked. It was Manchester City's first game since being found guilty on 114 of 115 Premier League financial charges, and the home end spent the warm-up making sure they knew it. Boos, "cheat" jibes, the lot. For an hour it was 0-0 and the noise was holding. Then Chris Kavanagh showed Ryan Gravenberch a second yellow for a foul on Jérémy Doku on 62 minutes, and City scored three in 16.
Erling Haaland smashed in the first two minutes and 37 seconds after the red. Doku, on from the bench, put the second in the top corner from Elliot Anderson's pass on 68. Rayan Cherki finished a 41-pass move, teed up by Joško Gvardiol, on 78. Liverpool 0-3 City. City are top with six wins from six. Liverpool are ninth on nine points, and were without Isak, Szoboszlai and Gakpo after the international break.
Andoni Iraola told Sky Sports Liverpool had played two games, one until the red card and another after it, and of Gravenberch's first booking: "The first one is not a yellow." Enzo Maresca's version: "Second half we made some adjustments and we were much better." City have appealed the verdict and the sanctions are still to come. None of that stopped either side of YouTube picking a story. The red rooms picked a villain, and his name is Kavanagh. The blue rooms picked a word, and the word is noise.
The ref made it about him
The Redmen TV put the Liverpool case in one line: The Ref Made It About Him. The thumbnail does the rest, the referee on one side, "ALL ABOUT HIM!" underneath. The argument isn't that Liverpool were cruising. It's that they were level, in it, and on the right side of a nervy afternoon until one decision flipped it. Iraola said much the same afterwards. The Redmen weren't done either. The ratings show went out under "Wirtz Didn't Do Enough!", and by Monday the Redmen Originals podcast was titled "CHEATS CONTINUE TO PROSPER!" Two villains in one weekend: the referee and the verdict.
Sleeping on it didn't help
The Kop TV had the night to calm down and came back for Hot Kopics Ep 232 with "Referee Ruined The Game!" in the title anyway. The morning-after show is usually where the anger turns into a plan. Not this time. Around it, the channel went looking for positives, with a short calling Muñoz "ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT against Man City!", plus another saying Liverpool needed Barcola to step up. When one player gets the praise and the rest get a to-do list, you know what kind of Monday it is.
"Again" is the word that hurts
Anfield Agenda are the counterweight, and their ratings title is the most honest thing in the Liverpool pile: WE FELL APART TOO EASILY (AGAIN) THIS ONE REALLY HURTS! The ref gets a kicking in every red room, but the word in brackets is the one Iraola should worry about. A red card explains going behind. It doesn't really explain three goals in 16 minutes. Liverpool 12th Man split the difference with "ROBBED… THEN COLLAPSED!", which is about as fair a summary as you'll get from a home channel. Big Six Bants shared the blame round: "KAVANAGH STINKER! WIRTZ STINKER!" Wirtz went off on 66 minutes, and the Wirtz debate is back on plenty of Liverpool channels today.
How Doku broke Anfield
Over to the other side. Nobbins is the City room's answer to the ref argument, and it's a tactics board, not a moan: How Doku & Underlaps Broke Anfield. An underlap is the run inside the full-back rather than round him, and the thumbnail's "ATTACK THE GATE" tells you where City think the game was won. Doku came off the bench, was the man fouled for the second yellow, then scored the second. City fans would say that's not luck, that's the substitution doing its job. Nobbins was already in a good mood the night before, with a post-mortem headed "Anfield Double, Top of the Table!"
Into the fire
The Mancunian Way went with the line City fans will be printing on T-shirts: CITY WALK INTO THE FIRE AND PUT IT OUT! A verdict week, Anfield away, a crowd that turned up to shout "cheat". BBC Sport's Phil McNulty wrote that City "were not unnerved at any point". The Mancunian Way's thumbnail, inflatable banana and all, is the fan version of the same thought. They weren't alone. Esteemed Kompany went with "YOU KEEP TALKING, WE KEEP WINNING!" and HMTV with "WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE!" The City end of the directory isn't arguing the verdict. It's using the scoreline to change the subject.
Maresca's noise
City Xtra had the presser, and Maresca handed them the title: "OUR NOISE IS WE'RE SINGING AT THE END!" It's a manager's answer to a week of chants. You don't win the argument with the stands, you just make sure your end is the one still going at full time. Maresca was jubilant at the whistle, and the presser thumbnail has him grinning like a man who knows which clip is going round tonight.
The argument
Was it Kavanagh, or was it City? Both sets of rooms have their answer and neither is moving. Liverpool's case is real: 0-0 on 62 minutes, a soft first booking, and a manager who thinks his side were better until the card. City's case is just as real: three goals in 16 minutes, one of them at the end of 41 passes, from a side playing its first game since a guilty verdict. McNulty asked what wins like this will actually mean once the punishment is handed out and the appeal is decided. Nobody in these rooms is waiting for that. Liverpool are blaming the referee. City are singing at the end.