It is a soundtrack that Manchester City have heard before but never for such sustained bursts during a match. It came from the Liverpool support, first ringing out around Anfield before kick-off and coming at regular intervals thereafter.
It was always going to be like this as City felt their way into a new reality, one conditioned by the guilty verdicts handed to them by an independent commission on virtually all of the 115 charges they have faced for breaking the Premier League’s financial rules. City maintain their innocence and have appealed.
The Kop wanted to tell City what they are. And where they were going. They wanted to tell them again and again. According to them, they are cheats, who are set to be relegated. It was not exactly a bear pit of an atmosphere; not truly intimidating. It was just an outpouring of anger and it was impossible to ignore.
City did not care. They rolled with the invective. And after a slow-burn contest turned on a second yellow card for the Liverpool midfielder, Ryan Gravenberch, in the 62nd minute, City cut loose. All that their players can do is try to blot out the noise. They did so here, running all over Liverpool’s 10 men to maintain their 100% start to the Premier League season. The key theme from them – and their fans – was defiance. City intend to keep doing what they do.
It was Erling Haaland, inevitably, who lashed them in front and Jérémy Doku, on as a game-changing substitute in the 56th minute, who curled them further ahead with a beauty. The best was still to come. Again, Doku was involved. And after Ryan Cherki dummied a pass from Elliot Anderson, he ran on to a backheel from another substitute, Josko Gvardiol. Cherki had work to do. He did it when he cut away from Jeremie Frimpong, on as a substitute, and rolled home. It was a team goal marked by individual brilliance.
Liverpool were broken and en route to a first defeat under Andoni Iraola. The manager was undermined by the absence of arguably his three best players so far this season; Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak all picked up injuries during the international window. Liverpool lacked punch.
City had reason to curse the timing of this fixture. Apart from Manchester United at Old Trafford, it could hardly have been worse than a visit here. And not only because Liverpool were one of the clubs that were most seriously undermined by their accountancy practices. City snuck their team buses around the back of the stadium on the way in, avoiding the jibes from the streets, but it only postponed the inevitable. It was always going to be lively.
When the Premier League published the document that provided the first raft of detail about the decisions against City on the Tuesday before last, it hit hard. It was the weight of the language – how it dripped with contempt – as well as the sheer extent of the transgressions. Proven misconduct. Sham arrangements. Concerted attempts to frustrate the investigation. How some of the club’s witnesses gave evidence that they knew to be untrue. It served to frame this game. It will continue to frame each one that City play for the foreseeable.
The City fans came armed with scores of inflatable bananas. Some of them wore old-school replica shirts. There was a message in there somewhere. Maybe to say that their club pre-dates the Abu Dhabi takeover. It was also possible to spot banners in support of Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the club chair.
You want banners? The Kop had that boxed off. There were some that riffed off Oasis lyrics, including one with the line that “after all, you really robbed us all”. The most eyecatching was unfurled before kick-off, featuring the word ‘cheats’ and a very long sequence of pound signs.
There was very little to report in terms of first-half action. Even the melee that broke out in the 12th minute after Alexis Mac Allister tussled with Anderson was the definition of handbags. There were no big chances; the precision on the final ball was frequently absent.
Iraola gave Lewis Koumas a full league debut up front and it was the 21-year-old who had the first decent effort straight after the restart. Gianluigi Donnarumma stood tall to save. Liverpool upped the intensity and they had a spell where they pushed and the Kop felt the breakthrough was coming. Gravenberch worked Donnarumma. Mac Allister volleyed wide.
Haaland blew a glorious chance from an Antoine Semenyo pass on the hour, dinking past the far post but City had otherwise created little. Then everything changed. Gravenberch caught the eye with his surging runs but he was on the wrong side when he challenged Doku, who was ready to spark a counterattack. It was clumsy from Gravenberch, the contact on Doku not exactly strong. But having been booked at the start of the second half for a foul on Anderson, Gravenberch was running an almighty risk. He did not get away with it.
City had their opening and how they piled through it. The way that they overwhelmed Liverpool was really something; a demonstration of their strength. It was not a game for the neutral. Are there any such viewers where City are concerned any more? Doku almost teed up Nico O’Reilly and City were on their way when Haaland swept home from a deflected Doku cross. A new reality? It was the same old City on the pitch.
