There are huge question marks in the game right now over refereeing. Every team gets bad decisions and can put forth their case, but it is pretty clear that Liverpool suffers a disproportionate amount of this stuff.
Paul Tomkins wrote a thorough piece on this, and while it was a good read, it would also benefit from a bloody good edit to get the main points into bite sized form, so that it has a chance of getting into the public discourse on the game. 
We get the short end of the stick, and I am 100% convinced of that.
Where I depart from @cynicaloldgit is that I still have a bit of hope that we might win! It could be naïveté , but I will fight hard to keep hope alive.
Man City’s biggest advantage is that they have systematically cheated the system to amass a squad of players so big and so good, it is almost impervious to injury or loss of form. Most teams are susceptible to losing key players, but not Man City.
Beyond this obvious cheating, I’m not as willing to say they have the referees in their pocket. That might be the case, because if your culture is to cheat at all costs to gain a competitive advantage, then why not pay the refs off too? But I’m not quite as willing to go there, yet, as I am with the other cheating they have been doing over the years.
What does all this mean for our chances?
It absolutely diminishes our chances.
One of the galling things about having one of the best managers in the game assemble such great Liverpool sides in recent years is that we only have one Premier League title to show for it. We should have so much more, and we have been cheated out of that.
And now here we are, mid season 2023-24.
At the half way mark we will be top, or second, pending Arsenal’s result against Weat Ham later today. We are right in the thick of the fight, albeit we’re not nearly close to the business end of the season yet. There is more improvement to come from the emerging Klopp 2.0 side.
As things stand I would make Man City favourites to lift the title, Arsenal second favourites, and then us ever so slightly behind, but still with a chance.
I expect Man City to win it again, but I do think we have a chance, and I hope I’m not deluded in saying that.
With fair treatment across the board, our chance to win the title would, of course, be much bigger. But there’s no way I am counting us out.
As for the watching football at the park thing, I very much resonate with what @cynicaloldgit said on that. When I watch football, in particular Liverpool, I am watching people who are light years ahead of what I could do. I love the game, and it quickens my pulse to see players on my team doing stuff I couldn’t dream of doing. E.g. Trent’s pass to Mo recently, 60 yards, inch perfect, drilled, with backspin, to go just beyond the defender and sit right in Mo’s path, who then cut inside and smashed home a lovely goal.
I could take a bag of balls and try all day long to hit that pass, without the pressure of the opposition trying to stop me, and I would fail, miserably. I was a handy amateur, midfield, but when I see that sort of thing it is mind blowing.
That’s part of why I watch Liverpool. To see stuff like that.
Anyway, the game is corrupt, and our chances to win the league are much smaller than they should be, but we are not out, and I am still hoping we do it, even if it feels a bit ahead of schedule for the new team Klopp is building.
