Sunday’s pulsating 2-2 draw between Tottenham and Liverpool was a classic example of a game that was great for the neutrals.
The other side of that coin in it was the sort of contest liable to drive any of those directly invested in the game to distraction.
Missed chances, momentum swings, controversial decisions - the match at a raucous Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that ensured Manchester City go into Christmas three points clear at the top of the Premier League left Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp particularly irked.
Referee Paul Tierney only booked Spurs goalscorer Harry Kane for a challenge on Andy Robertson that was meatier than a turkey dinner.
Reds forward Diogo Jota was then shoved over by Emerson Royal in the Spurs box and did not receive a penalty from referee Tierney, the man who was in Klopp’s crosshairs at full-time.
Tierney then only booked Robertson for booting Emerson’s legs, before a VAR review saw the Scotland captain’s punishment deservedly upgraded.
"I have no problems with referees - only you," Klopp was overheard saying to Tierney on the field after the game and he was still seething in his post-match interview.
“I have no idea what his [Tierney's] problem is with me,” he told Sky Sports.
“That’s obviously two wrong decisions from him, one right [the Robertson red card], and all three against us.”
This is quite the claim and one can only presume that Tierney ceased prodding pins into his Klopp voodoo doll before he took charge of City’s game at Anfield earlier this season.
To jog your memory, Pep Guardiola’s side twice came from behind to claim a 2-2 draw but it should never have been that close.
The Blues were utterly dominant during the first half, with Phil Foden giving makeshift right-back James Milner an utterly torrid time.
Milner was inexplicably not punished for shoving Foden outside and inside the box during a break towards the Anfield Road End. A penalty or a red card and a free-kick for denying a goalscoring opportunity were the possible outcomes.
Tierney did nothing, with Foden’s honesty in training to stay on his feet ultimately the only thing punished.
Milner was eventually booked for bringing down his tormentor and Tierney’s failure to produce a second yellow card for his cynical second-half trip on Bernardo Silva sent Guardiola into one of his customary Merseyside touchline meltdowns.
It shows Klopp is being very selective in his memory indeed. Without Tierney’s errors a couple of months ago, Liverpool would probably be pulling crackers with City even further ahead of them at the summit.
The main issue here is an official like Tierney, the referee for City’s Carabao Cup final triumph at Wembley earlier this year, being repeatedly handed high-profile games such as Liverpool v City and Spurs v Liverpool, only to make fairly inexplicable errors in both.
This isn’t about a vendetta, it’s about the incompetence that dogs all teams in England’s top flight. Referees endure a thankless and relentlessly tough task but even the most generous observer would concede that standards need to go up across the division.
Klopp’s frustration was understandable, but to suggest a personality clash is denying his team breaks is nonsense right out of the murkiest pages of Sir Alex Ferguson's playbook.
The Liverpool manager has spoken with admirable clarity and eloquence over the COVID-19 crisis that has gripped the Premier League. It’s one of the many reasons why him spouting the childish and ridiculous notion that a referee has it in for him jars so much.
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