Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville were both critical of the decision to send off Ryan Gravenberch during Liverpool's Premier League loss to Manchester City. The Liverpool midfielder was cautioned twice during the second half of their Premier League encounter against Manchester City, first for a late tackle on Elliot Anderson and then for a pull-back on Jeremy Doku.
Carragher and Neville question red card decision
Neither Carragher nor Neville were convinced that the red card was warranted. Carragher told Sky Sports: "It feels really harsh when you think of the two challenges. The first challenge was not a card and the referee was far too quick to get the card out. The first was the same, the referee was so quick to get a yellow out."
Neville then added: "That is very, very soft." Gravenberch was quite clearly upset as he trudged off the pitch with Andoni Iraola swiftly readying Trey Nyoni to come in and fill the midfield void.
City capitalise on Liverpool's disadvantage
Before the substitution could be made, however, Erling Haaland handed City the lead within just three minutes of the red card. Jeremy Doku then struck a stunning second for the visitors, the Belgian proving to be a game-changer for his side after coming on for Iliman Ndiaye in the 56th minute.
Prior to his dismissal, Gravenberch had been among those to force a strong save from Gianluigi Donnarumma, with Lewis Koumas and Alexis Mac Allister also coming close. Trailing by two goals and reduced to 10 men, the match appeared settled within merely six minutes of Gravenberch's dismissal, but City subsequently put the result beyond all doubt.
Cherki's goal and financial cloud
In a flowing move involving every City player, which featured an intelligent flick from Josko Gvardiol and Rayan Cherki leaving Jeremie Frimpong stranded beforehand, the latter rolled home a third past Alisson. Discussing the goal, Carragher stated: "Well we can talk about Manchester City, players that they've brought in, the money that they've spent, when they have spent money, whether its legal or not, they've bought good players. He [Cherki] is one of them. Absolute quality since he come into the squad, what a goal that is. The less said about Frimpong the better, he is all over the place, wow."
The triumph extends City's perfect start to the campaign, though any points accumulated from this juncture remain under scrutiny following their guilty verdict on 114 financial charges, as Neville highlighted. He stated: "That's the problem for the league this season, Manchester City are an outstanding team but if they don't overturn this guilty verdict, these points will be taken off them. This is the cloud that hangs over the entirety of the game." City maintain their position of innocence and have lodged an appeal against the decision reached by the independent panel.
