Atletico Madrid put on a display in their Champions League match against Manchester City that ‘no-one wants to see’. What utter rubbish.
So Manchester City versus Liverpool turned out to be the calm before and after the storm. After the controlled and composed match at the weekend – and before the FA Cup semi-final – Manchester City jetted off to Spain for their Champions League quarter-final second leg to face a team that has long had a reputation for winning with the assistance of good old-fashioned intimidation. They came through the test, albeit only just.
Pep Guardiola may have been concerned by the sight of Kevin De Bruyne having ice applied to his knee following his second-half withdrawal or Kyle Walker limping from the pitch following yet another ‘robust’ Atleti challenge, but he might well also be balancing those thoughts against the value of coming through such a bruising encounter with a win and a place in the semi-finals.
The word ‘shithouse’ in the modern, English sense has had its origins traced back to 1960s Liverpudlian slang for ‘an extremely unpleasant individual’ or a ‘coward’. But it’s likely that its most common application in the 21st century is to be found in football. Shithousery is a concept that has a more nuanced meaning in the sport than just relating to players or teams that kick seven bells out of their opponents.
Shithousery is different to – or at least more than – mere thuggishness. It’s a discipline that encompasses all of football’s ‘dark arts’, and while the fouling can be an important component, at it’s absolute peak it’s about considerably more. The shithouse doesn’t foul because they want to hurt their opponent – although they may legitimately want to hurt their opponent. The shithouse fouls to disrupt play, to get in the heads of their opponents, disturb their thought processes and ultimately impede an entire team’s plans.
And fouling alone is seldom enough. It’s also…
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