After a fantastic performance at Anfield on Sunday, the players have received less attention than disgusting supporter behaviour and baseless accusations.
Coins should never be thrown towards an opposing manager, player, or supporter. Anyone caught doing so will be held accountable for their conduct.

The same goes for anyone discovered to have damaged a team bus, whether it was done with a coin, a bottle, a stone, or any other kind of missile. There is no rationale, it is not significant, and it is not intelligent. none in the least.

And if they seem like fairly pointless arguments to make—after all, who would ever believe it was acceptable to throw coins or break windows at a football game?—then please disregard them. then hold off till the subsequent one.

It is repugnant to sing about human tragedy—events in which several people perished and others have endured debilitating repercussions for decades—in order to win a sporting competition. It is strange in addition to being revolting. What drives someone to explore such ominous territory and to pretend to take pleasure in doing so?

In many respects, Liverpool's victory against Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday was the ideal advertisement for Premier League soccer: it was a match of energy, emotion, and skill between two clubs who have recently lifted the bar for English sport.

It fulfilled all of your fantasies in terms of suspense, drama, debate, changes in momentum, and a narrative that had you guessing right up until the very end. It was played in a frenetic, feverish environment and decided by a goal of pure, unadulterated brilliance.

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However, the controversy is not centred on Virgil van Dijk's comeback or Mohamed Salah's brilliance. It hasn't involved Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, or Erling Haaland. Not exactly, but it hasn't even been about the referee and the VAR.

Instead, what we witnessed was the most recent episode in a "rivalry" that is reaching new lows in terms of vitriol and pettiness. Both clubs must immediately and significantly exercise common sense to stop the situation from getting worse.

By now, you've probably seen the headlines. Pep Guardiola was the target of items hurled throughout the game, and City are understandably upset about it. They also claim that their team coach was damaged as it left Anfield. They have come into similar problems in Merseyside before, too.

The offensive chanting heard from the away end on Sunday during the game and the graffiti that was left behind on the concourse afterward have left Liverpool "very saddened." You are aware of what they are and how they are related.

Liverpool has denounced the fans who hurled missiles towards Guardiola and his coaching staff and has pledged to cooperate with Manchester City and the appropriate authorities to see that appropriate action is taken. If and when the offenders are found, stadium bans are a given.

Absolutely correct. Such conduct has no place in the game, and Liverpool is right to openly denounce it.

Meanwhile, the City's answer reflects rather less favourably.

Surprisingly, the club has decided not to publicly address any of the hot buttons, instead privately suggesting to journalists that Klopp's pre-game remarks, in which he compared the financial resources of the two clubs and claimed Liverpool "could not compete" with City in terms of bringing in players, may have heightened tensions among fans.

pathetic, to be honest. If City genuinely believes that, then we are in risky area where each perceived insult against a club gives supporters permission to act anyway they like with a defence of "yes, but what about... " stashed away in their back pockets.

Was Klopp at fault when City fans - and there were plenty of them - interrupted a moment of mourning for Hillsborough during the FA Cup semifinal at Wembley in April? Perhaps Guardiola was the one who incite Liverpool supporters to vandalise City's bus before to the Champions League match at Anfield in 2018?

No, no, and no once again. You cannot use other people or the insignia on your chest to defend disgusting behaviour.

Human dignity is different from competition in football. Why do the two seem to no longer be able to coexist?

There will undoubtedly be comments in reaction to this post citing previous instances of unruly conduct by supporters of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Everton. Nowadays, it seems that that is the default stance: sure, but. We act in the same way that they did.

It's unfortunate, but the game and its followers need to start acting like adults. The chanting of Hillsborough, Heysel, and Munich ought to stop. Period. Deaths occurred. Numerous lives were lost, and many more were permanently altered. You are a human being, just as they were. Act as if it.

Both the time management and the players shown some maturity and perspective. When do we start to use some common sense along with our admiration for intensity and passion?

Whatever your loyalties, Klopp's red card for berating deputy referee Gary Beswick on Sunday was both deserving and inexcusable. At a time when referee abuse at the grassroots level in England has reached a crisis stage, it sets a terrible precedent.

The same is true for Guardiola, who spent a portion of Sunday making fun of Liverpool's Main Stand supporters, and for players like Mikel Arteta, whose antics on the touchline are getting increasingly ridiculous.

In truth, this is true for each and every club's management. Those who want to blame the referees and assistants in their post-game interviews, which are devoured by their legions of devoted fans and magnified, let's be honest, by a complicit media, are only serving to stoke tension and paranoia.

The same is true for every player, at every club, who dives, "exaggerates contact," or shows disapproval of a decision by acting like a little child who has been refused a treat before bed.

We get that you "care" and "have passion," but spare us the blather. You are grownups.

In the end, all of these trivial "talking points" accomplish is divert our attention. from the game's many, many significant problems as well as from the game itself.

While supporters at a Champions League final are left in dread for their lives, we concentrate on shouts, coins, and press conference statements.

While young football players are experiencing a mental health crisis, we fan the fires of a fabricated rivalry. While bigotry and abuse are occurring all around us, we shout about referee bias and VAR rulings.

It's time for us to all look in the mirror.

Because if Sunday's match showed anything, it was that Liverpool are excellent and City are horrible, not that Salah is fantastic or Haaland is human, or that Klopp and Pep care.

The issue is that football as a sport has to mature.