Football, like so many aspects of life, is rife with hypocrisy. What applies to one group may not necessarily be what they then want considered elsewhere.
The tribalism that will forever be the foundation of the sport serves only to intensify the fact, particularly when the all-encompassing behemoth of social media is thrown into the mix.
We're all guilty of it. Even when sometimes we don't even mean to be.
Which brings us on to the issue of Liverpool being granted their request for Thursday's Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Arsenal to be postponed due to a major coronavirus outbreak in the playing and coaching staff.
There can be no doubt over the veracity of the claim, given the decision on Wednesday to temporarily close the training ground was taken after consultation with relevant Public Health authorities.
Nor can there be any doubt over the postponement being the very last cause of action the Reds wanted to take.
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Three players tested positive ahead of the trip to Tottenham Hotspur last month.
Liverpool got on with it.
A further three were missing for the clash at Chelsea on Sunday, with boss Jurgen Klopp and several coaching staff also absent after returning suspected positive coronavirus tests.
Liverpool got on with it.
But such is the extent of the ongoing outbreak, there was no chance of the Reds being able to not only field a team at the Emirates, but also prepare for the fixture and, indeed, have sufficient senior coaching staff on which to call.
And with the FA Cup third round tie at home to Shrewsbury Town on Sunday in danger of following suit, so came the inevitable barbs and criticisms from rival fans and certain people who should have known an awful lot better.
Instantly fingers were pointed at how Aston Villa were forced to field a team of youngsters at home to Liverpool in the FA Cup last January due to a similarly extensive COVID outbreak in their senior set-up.
That was indeed a preposterous decision that led to the unedifying sight of Liverpool almost sheepishly dismissing an enthusiastic but horribly inexperienced Villa side.
The situations, though, aren't quite the same, with the condensed calendar of last season meaning there was simply no obvious room in Villa's calendar to rearrange the game before the fourth round. The Midlanders felt they simply had no option but to play rather than seemingly having to forfeit.
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This campaign, with third and fourth round replays only scrapped relatively recently, there are free dates in which both Liverpool's Carabao Cup and FA Cup games can be played ahead of the respective next rounds of the competitions.
Also, those with short memories will have forgotten that, barely 13 months earlier, Liverpool were compelled to field a team comprising of Academy players for the Carabao Cup quarter-final at, yes, Villa Park due to the authorities refusing to shift the tie from its scheduled date despite the Reds being in Qatar for the FIFA Club World Cup.
There was little sympathy outside Anfield for that plight. Nor, indeed, was it expected.
As for the laughable claims Liverpool are "scared" to face Arsenal with, even before the latest outbreak, the absence of nine senior players, it was only a fortnight ago Klopp declared himself happy to play a one-off game at the Emirates rather than face a two-legged semi-final.
Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, Everton, Leeds United, Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Norwich City, Watford and Newcastle United have all had to postpone games in the last three weeks due to the spread of COVID.
Others, like Chelsea, have been teetering on the brink but just about able to plough on.
While transparency has been an issue in some of those cases, surely nobody truly believes those clubs haven't been adversely affected by an outbreak.
Why, then, should it be any different with Liverpool?
But then the pandemic has long exposed the self-interest that beats in the heart of every club, some more loudly than others.
Lest we forget the calls from West Ham United vice-chairman Karren Brady back in March 2020 for the season to be declared null and void with the Londoners mired in a relegation fight.
Strange how quiet the Hammers hierarchy have been on the subject since their vast improvement under David Moyes in the subsequent 22 months.
Football, like society, continues to live through difficult times, with people being put in situations that a mere two years ago seemed unimaginable.
However, the hypocrisy remains. And, in some ways, it is strangely reassuring. Some things don't change.
