I was on the Kop for Man City’s furious welcome, then something changed

0This was one of several banners at Anfield which used Oasis lyrics as inspiration to lampoon Manchester city – Reuters/Phil NobleThe day demanded the locals be at their most creative and, as I entered the Kop, one banner, among the many that were unfurled, caught the eye.

“No legacy is so rich as honesty,” came the proclamation from a red sheet in white capital letters. It is one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines, taken from the comedy All’s Well That Ends Well, and who could have expected The Bard to be used as a vessel for scorn in the context of a football rivalry?

Reading it felt profound, as “The Tempest” that had been predicted outside had failed to materialise. Liverpool’s fans had lined Anfield Road to greet their team and unleash their wrath on Manchester City, taking vantage points on walls, trees and lamp posts, but it all felt “Much Ado About Nothing”.

City’s bus whizzed into the stadium at 3.09pm from a different direction, flanked by police cars and without so much as a murmur, and from that point all eyes were going to be trained on what Liverpudlians would produce to condemn their bitter rivals.

Aside from the words that were written, many were hollered ranging from the crudest (“you cheating b——-, you know what you are!”) to the sardonic (“You haven’t won a trophy since 1976!”), but it all felt like a sideshow.

There was a danger of too much energy being expended inside the stadium on the visitors when, truthfully, Liverpool needed all the support they could receive. Something about this fixture has always brought an edge out of the crowd over the past 15 years, but it didn’t feel that way.

As they congregated in the concourse before kick-off, groups of season-ticket holders kept an eye on how Everton were faring against Hull, while focusing their attentions on what the enthusiastic youngster Lewis Koumas might do with this surprise start or whether Florian Wirtz could sparkle.

Yes, they knew there was going to be sound and fury when City took to the field, but this, arguably, was the weakest Liverpool team they had faced in the past decade. They knew it and the locals, deep down, knew it, and it was that reason the crackle in the air quickly fizzled out.

Ronald Araujo, the on-loan Barcelona defender, tried to ignite things with an early tackle followed by a fist pump to the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand, but there were none of those red waves that would wash over City and, by the 29th minute, you could feel the tension.

When Wirtz – like Bradley Barcola, a subject for another day – lost possession in a decent area, one of those guttural groans that do not get reproduced outside Merseyside swept along the front of the Kop and into the Main Stand as patience became tested.

It is jarring for many of the regulars to turn up to this stadium with thoughts still so fresh of what it used to be like in the golden days under Jürgen Klopp, but this is a completely different Liverpool side, with a different mindset and approach to the champions who hunted with the ferocity of wolves.

Half-time was the trigger for more anxious conversations on the concourse, more unease about the way the game was going, but then Liverpool came out for the second period and, for 15 minutes, they did a passable impersonation of what used to be seen on a weekly basis.

As Koumas had chances and Alexis Mac Allister slipped a shot wide, the stadium became united. City and their problems did not matter, this was about Liverpool and there was an energy about Anfield that had not been since Arne Slot oversaw the last title-winning campaign two seasons ago.

Then, however, came the red card to Ryan Gravenberch and the goal from Erling Haaland that popped the balloon. Everyone knew these were the defining moments and you could see a handful of people jump out of their seats in the Main Stand and head for the exit. City were in control.

“Look at the cheats!” one fan in block 103 screeched. “£65m passing to £50m! Now it’s going to £125m and back to £60m! And who are we bringing on? Jeremie f—ing Frimpong!”

It was acerbic but the point was understandable. City have always had an edge because of their expensive talent in reserve and it was lost on nobody that three of City’s substitutes – Josko Gvardiol, Jérémy Doku and Ayyoub Bouaddi – cost £216m combined.

For the first time in this era when Liverpool and City have been scrapping, it felt like the visitors were on a different planet and while the Kop tried to harangue them at the end, chanting “cheats” to drown out “olés” from the visiting section, it was a very sobering finale.

Many had left by the time Chris Kavanagh brought the game to an end while those who stayed looked bereft by it all. Anfield was supposed to provide the definitive test for City. It turned out to be the day when, for all their initial wit, Liverpool had no answers.