Something very interesting has happened these past few weeks. We have witnessed the death of football. Well, football as we knew it, anyway; football as tactical minefield, cerebral chess match, the technically astute goalless draw, the cleverly stolen point away from home. All those sorry excuses for matches that we praised while secretly wishing we had played golf instead.
Remember when AC Milan and Juventus bored a continent to tears in the 2003 European Cup final at Old Trafford? No goals, no excitement, match decided on penalties. The following day this non-event had been re-imagined as fascinating strategic triumph, on a higher plane than mere supporters could understand. Rubbish. It was a bust, pure and simple. A two-hour inept snore-fest that should have ended with both coaches getting the trophy smacked around their heads, as opposed to presented.
Now it is different. Things have changed. After the matches that have taken place in the second half of this season, who is going to accept that top quality football cannot be both adept and enthralling anymore? Manchester United 1 Liverpool 4, Liverpool 1 Chelsea 3, Chelsea 4 Liverpool 4, Liverpool 4 Arsenal 4. That is football. Coaches might not like it, experts may curl the lip but, frankly, they can get stuffed. These are hard times. Money is tight. People deserve to be entertained.
After the 4-4 draw at Anfield on Tuesday, I stood with Jan Molby, the former Liverpool player, laughing. Liverpool may well have lost the title that night but as we watched the players warm down and the tiny daughter of one of the coaches kick a ball around on the pitch, it did not feel like a downbeat occasion.
Even within those who must now fear it is Manchester United’s title there was a sense that we had seen something special. “That was for all of them,” Molby said, gesturing around the empty stadium, and into the wider world beyond. “Not the coaches. We’ve seen too many matches run by coaches, let’s see a few more for the fans.”
And it might be argued that Liverpool’s followers would have preferred a dull 1-0 win and the title pressure on, but would they also have preferred to win by a single goal at Old Trafford or draw goalless at Stamford Bridge, too?
The outcome on the night would have been the same, but who would remember those matches now?
Should Arsenal have come with a weakened team for a dull stalemate, or gone for it, as they did, with the incredible swings in tempo and advantage that made this one of the greatest matches I have seen. Yes, there was bad defending; but who goes to a game to watch defenders? We want the forwards on top. We want to see Fernando Torres and Andrey Arshavin at their absolute best.
The one thing Kevin Keegan had right was his preference for 4-4 over 0-0. His problem was he couldn’t stop losing 1-0.
Whatever the level of tactical cunning, a goalless draw is a failure. It has not achieved the basic point of the game, which is to score a goal.
Bolton Wanderers away at Manchester United, maybe it is acceptable, but when two of the elite go head-to-head there really is no excuse for not having it, hammer and tongs. Not anymore, anyway.
Martin Samuel is the chief sports writer of the Daily Mail, where his column appears on Monday and Wednesday