Very complimentary article in todays Times about the Liverpool game.
"(Palace) gave it everything, every ounce of blood sweat and guts. They battled, they never ducked a challenge and, as their fans ripped their T shirts off in the stands, creating the kind of heady atmosphere that has turned Selhurst Park into an amphitheatre at times during the course of this scintillating season"
"Palace were not out there to pocket dirty money, but for something infinitely more precious, to win a football match"
"In many ways this was the ultimate advert for English football"
"Two terrfic team, only one of which that had anything to play for giving it everything - it was truly glorious"

I like him!

Yes, I am an agent of Satan but my duties are largely ceremonial

It is a seriously fabulous piece of writing and well worth spending £1.20 for, even if you bin the rest of the paper

Let’s acknowledge the Crystal Palace versus Liverpool clash on Monday night for what it was: one of the great matches in the history of the Premier League. It had everything: attacking football, wonderful flourishes and a crazy comeback. Most of all, however, it had integrity. Integrity like a banner headline above the extraordinary action.

Palace had “nothing” to play for. A victory rather than a defeat might have meant that they finished 11th rather than 12th in the league, a difference that few will remember in a decade’s time, even lifelong supporters. They could have fielded a weakened side. They could have taken it easy. They could have had an eye on the summer holidays.

Instead, they gave it everything, every ounce of blood, sweat and guts. They battled, they never ducked a challenge and, as their fans ripped their T-shirts off in the stands, creating the kind of heady atmosphere that has turned Selhurst Park into an amphitheatre at times during the course of this scintillating season, they equalised with the most unexpected of goals, breaking Liverpool hearts and reminding everyone else why this is the greatest league in the world.

Match-fixing? They have called it the scourge of modern sport, a cancer that threatens to eat the entire edifice from within. We have seen it in football, in cricket, in horse racing, even in snooker. It has the greatest potential to interfere with the rhythms of the game when one side, one person, has little to play for.

But on Monday, we witnessed the most eloquent of ripostes. Palace were out there not to pocket dirty money, but for something infinitely more precious: to try to win a football match.

In years to come, Liverpool’s players should be proud of the part they played in what, by the end, had become a mind-bending contest. As their dreams were squashed, the hopes nurtured for over two decades seeming to glimmer and fade in 11 pulsating minutes, they were helping to send a message to the would-be corrupters around the world: this league is not for sale. We do not want your dodgy money.

There was humanity in the aftermath, too. As Liverpool players sank to their knees, their opponents walked across to offer them comfort. Luis Suárez, the player of the season, was in tears, his shirt pulled over his head in anguish, when he was given a hug. It was reminiscent of the embrace offered to Brett Lee by Andrew Flintoff at the end of the second Test of the 2005 Ashes series, after England had won by two runs.

But do not expect any Palace players to receive kudos. Do not expect the chattering classes to offer a salute. When it comes to football, we only want to hear bad news stories.

It is a curious impasse. Football is our national sport and the Premier League is one of our most valuable exports. We watch the game, we adore its tempo and yet we are remarkably quick to put the boot in. We abhor the diving, the post-match rants of managers, the way that players dispute the decisions of the referees. This is the stuff of our national debate on the game.

Sometimes we should lift our eyes from all this. We should acknowledge the craft of these athletes, the fact that football is a meritocracy where children from the working classes can dare to dream. We should observe the truth that, amid the difficulties and the fractious exchanges, there is great humanity, too.

Most of all, we should acknowledge the sheer joy of a league that, despite all the shirt-pulling and simulation, retains a precious kind of probity.

This is not merely the probity of refusing corrupt money; nobody should be celebrated for turning down a bung. No, it is about something deeper. It is about fighting when a top-four finish is out of view; about continuing to strive when relegation has been avoided; about putting one’s body on the line when the only incentive is moving from lower mid-table obscurity to slightly higher mid-table obscurity.

It does not always happen, of course. There are managers who treat this very idea with contempt. Unless a bauble is up for grabs, they do not care very much. But that is another reason why we should celebrate integrity when we see it. It has a preciousness, a value, that dwarfs any amount of money and any number of Champions League trophies. It is the essence of sport.

Tony Pulis saluted his players in the aftermath, describing it as an “amazing” comeback. “When you’re 3-0 down ten minutes in to the second half, you’re chasing it, but they want to keep the ball a lot more than really go for us and we got the impetus from the substitutions,” the Palace manager said.

“Sometimes they work for you, sometimes they don’t, and thank God it worked for us. The last 20 minutes were fantastic and just show the character of the players. Once we got the crowd going it was wonderful.”

In many ways, this was the ultimate advert for English football. The comeback was triggered by the kind of chance incident that so often shapes big matches, a deflection off Glen Johnson that turned a speculative shot from Damien Delaney into an unstoppable one. From there, it was undistilled craziness until the final whistle blew, moments after Victor Moses had been presented with a gilt-edged chance, but missed the ball as he swung his left boot. Palace fans erupted.

I suppose the Manchester City-Queens Park Rangers game in 2012 will always be remembered as the league’s greatest contest, and for good reason. It had two impossible goals in added time in a match where City were going for the title and QPR were battling to avoid relegation. But Monday’s match at Selhurst Park offered something particularly magical. It was not just the match itself, but what it represented: two terrific teams, only one of whom had “something to play for”, giving it everything.

It was truly glorious.

glorious...... - yes it was

Now that is an article by a sports writer who truly understands football!

A stairway to Heaven and a Highway to Hell give some indication of expected traffic numbers

The article was a decent enough piece and I'm grateful for the chance to read it. But the underlying context for the article was a bit cynical. It seemed to be saying that the game was rare in times obsessed by money. Which is odd from a journalist writing for a paper owned by the guy who has done more to make sport (and society generally) more obsessed with money.