Chaos. Chaos in the first half, chaos in the second half. Chaos in the Liverpool defence and chaos in the Newcastle defence. Chaos in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s mind, in Virgil van Dijk’s mind, perhaps in the referee’s mind. Chaos so thoroughly chaotic that it rendered the most chaotic Premier League player of all into a clanking totem of clinically icy finishing.
Football is a sport we try to rationalise. We try to explain it with data and diagrams. We try to reduce the random by having referees’ decisions checked in slow motion and by endlessly rewriting the laws. But sometimes the random just bubbles over. Sometimes the chaos cannot be contained. And that is what, despite the dirty money and the dirtier money, despite the public investment funds and the private equity, despite the conspiracy theorists and tribal bores, makes football still worth it.
