Manchester City have launched an official complaint – according to the Daily Mail – to referees chief Mike Riley regarding the performance of Michael Oliver during Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over the Citizens.
The European champions put the Premier League holders to the sword at Anfield on Sunday as Liverpool opened up a nine-point gap over their title rivals. The quality of the match was sadly overlooked following the intervention of VAR with the referees taking centre stage once again.
This should have been the perfect advert for the Premier League, with two of Europe’s best teams going toe-to-toe like heavyweight boxers looking for blood. Despite this, City have chosen to look past the matter that Liverpool were deserved winners and will instead blame the officials for their supposed injustice.
(Photo credit should read OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
It isn’t the first time that controversial refereeing decisions have been the uproar of talk after a Liverpool vs Manchester City clash. Last season, there was a lot of controversy when former City captain Vincent Kompany avoided a red card for a nasty last-ditch tackle on Mohamed Salah.
Even though the Reds would lose this match 2-1 at the Etihad back in January and miss out on the title by a point, Liverpool moved on. There were no official complaints, no lingering outpours of protest following injustice just the fine margins that can separate such formidable opponents.
However, City’s decision to take this matter to an independent panel has provoked a natural reaction from the Liverpool fanbase with the Citizens being labelled as ‘sore losers’.
Unreal with all that oil money no one at the club can buy specs silva handled it first..the 2nd one was a yard away
— Glen (@glenc1983) November 13, 2019
One Liverpool supporter believes referee Michael Oliver produced ‘one of the best refereeing performances this season’.
Taking bias away, that was probably one of the best refereeing performances I’ve seen this season. The fact that he got the laws of the game correct and didn’t bottle it.
— Sam (@SamueILFC) November 13, 2019
One Kopite made a comparison to City not batting an eyelid when Kompany escaped a red card back in January.
Man City expect everything to go their way, if a team dares to try against them and even worse dares to win, they spit their dummies out.
— Moves_Like_Salah (@MovesLikeSa11ah) November 13, 2019
Another supporter showcased their frustration of Manchester City complaining when things aren’t going their way.
Even after the 1st goal we scored, they had best part of 90mins to score and instead went 3 behind.
— Dubai_Red ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Dubai_Red) November 13, 2019
After falling behind so early can City really complain that it was the performance of the referee the sole reason they lost the Anfield clash?
Wow look at Man City bullying the #FA and refs into submission… If they can't buy their way out of trouble they will bully and villainise officials.
— Jo Dani (@jodyndaniels) November 14, 2019
One supporter felt so strongly that he labelled City into ‘bullying the FA into submission’ following their decision to appeal Oliver’s performance.
Na. City always played kompany high up the pitch havent they? He got a yellow for this btw. Obviously the covering defender laporte was still in his own box pic.twitter.com/Z6F4sJO8AL
— Jim (@Officially_Jim) November 13, 2019
Another flashback to Kompany’s tackle on Salah was used in response to the complaint. Does the supporter have a case?