Forever Blue With Ian Cheeseman: Standing In Solidarity With Ukraine

Manchester City’s win at Everton was an emotional one for me.

My family connection to Ukraine was bound to send me to Merseyside with my feelings close to the surface, knowing that Oleks Zinchenko, City’s Ukrainian player, may be involved in the game. He was named as a substitute and was one of the last to emerge from the tunnel, which is close to the away fans at Goodison Park. 

As he trotted out onto the pitch the stadium applauded, as one, very loudly. Tears started to well in my eyes. It was very moving. Oleks headed for the half way line where he embraced Everton’s Ukrainian defender Vitaliy Mykolenko. It was a powerful moment. 

When the teams entered the field for the game, City wore the Ukrainian flag on their backs and Everton were draped in the yellow and blue flags while “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother” by the Hollies was played over the PA. For a few minutes I forgot that I was at a football match. 

Once the game started, we saw that Everton, now managed by Frank Lampard, were not prepared to weakly capitulate like so many of City’s opponents appear to do. They were prepared to go toe to toe with Pep’s team and they surprised me by the quality they showed. For long phases of the game I wondered if City would be able to break them down. 

City’s ever more youthful and vociferous travelling support never wavered. I’d like to think that the noisy support, which Pep Guardiola has praised so highly, made a difference. The team didn’t give up and eventually Phil Foden’s never-say-die attitude led to him taking advantage, of the one brief crack in Everton’s otherwise solid defence, to score the crucial match winner. 

There was, of course, a moment soon after, where Everton might have claimed an equaliser. When it was announced, via the big screen, that VAR was investigating a potential handball I had no idea whether this was likely to lead to a spot kick. My view from the away end wasn’t clear. I’ve written about the problems about VAR on many occasions, and this is one of them. The match going fans, who’ve paid good money to be there, have no idea what’s going on. I watched the forensic analysis on Match of the Day, when I got home, and it certainly looked like handball by Rodri to me. 

The decision went City’s way. There is an argument to say that if VAR had identified a handball there might then have been further analysis to decide if there had been an Everton player in an offside position earlier in the move. The huge screen simply announced that it wasn’t handball, so no penalty. Why is football becoming so complicated? 

City won the game but only just. It was a really positive result. A win straight after the previous defeat to Spurs. Time will tell how vital those three points will prove to be. The next Premier League game is the Manchester derby. What a fascinating match that will be. City probably have to win, but United’s dropped points against Watford and their continuing fall away from the heights City are capable of, certainly ups the ante even more. They need the win if they’re to qualify for next season’s Champions League. 

I would suggest that Sunday’s game is almost as crucial, for both clubs, as the Wembley semi-final in 2011 or the league game at the Etihad Stadium in the closing stages of the 2012 title race. It’s a big game for sure and I can’t wait for it, but one thing my trip to Everton reminded me of is that some things are more important than football. We stand with Ukraine!