Truth be told its just 21st Century football, we all say we don't like it, and we all accuse other teams of being cheats because they 'go down easily' but name a premier league striker who doesn't do it, I am not sure that there is one. Ours do we shouldn't deny it, but we are no better and no worse than anyone else, and we not very good at it, as the number of penalties we get shows.
^ ^ This and its not just strikers as nearly all players do it after all who hasn't seen a defender running to their own by line suddenly stop so the oppo forward grazes them at which they lob themselves to the ground conveniently landing on the ball but no one moans about them .
Rival fans generally always feel other teams players cheat and that their own are saints. Or that the media is against their club when it's generally against all clubs, one or two every now and then get the arse kissing treatment and that's often those at the top at the time, ultimately though papers and news sell best when the topic is hate. Truth is just about every club, or every top club at least, has players that like using dark arts/ cheating to gain an upper hand. You'll often find a lot of the teams near the bottom are generally the most honest as their players often lack the initiative of utilising a dark art in particular circumstances. Does Kane cheat? Course he ****ing does. Does Salah? Yes. Does Fernandes? Yes. Drogba, Suarez, Gerrard, Ronaldo, Robben etc all did in their era in the Prem too. It's the way of the game nowadays. Doesn't make it right, it just is. Either get with it or often be a victim of it.
Diving corrupts the game as a whole. When was the last time a referee gave a penalty for a player who was fouled but didn't go down? That's the tragic casualty of diving that's become part and parcel of the game over the past 30 years. The refs don't give penalties to players who stay on their feet so even honest players realise that if they're fouled they need to go down. That's how it corrupts the game. And this then blurs the lines because when does a player feel he should go down - in a given situation, how does he decide? And this then encourages the real divers or those looking for the touch to keel over and buy a pen. Anyway lets not forget Klinsmann introduced it to the English game when he played for Spurs. Even had a celebration doing it So remember it's all Spurs fault before moaning about it yeh please log in to view this image
I may be wrong but that is not how I remember this incident. As I recall, when it was known Jurgen was coming to us, our rivals (no doubt green with envy) started shouting that we had bought a diver, so when he scored a perfectly good goal on his debut (IIRC) this was a sort of 'up yours' to his detractors. To say he started it is a load of rubbish.
I have a better idea At first the player thinks the big screen is showing the VAR review Then they realise that it doesn't say VAR on the screen, it says UFC And as we all know, Salah is susceptible to judo throws...
Francis Lee and Rodney Marsh both had a reputation for diving in the mid-70s By complete coincidence, they just so happened to be plying their trade for the same team at the time...
So you say. I just remember our fans being 'over the moon' that he was coming to us. And rightly so, he was great.
That's nice mate, I always liked him too. He was great indeed, like pretty much all the divers people have been posting about on here.
He was given the nickname Lee Won Pen, apparently. Scored 35 goals in a season, 15 of which were penalties. Famously had a punch-up with Norman Hunter, allegedly over a dive by Lee.
Tbh all you hear about in the 70's is how players got kicked to shreds playing on pitches that resembled mudtracks that you don't think footballers in the English game dived. It was frowned upon here until Owen did it in a World Cup and folk began to defend it by saying "well everyone else does it, so we should as well". Just my memory of the point at which things really began to change.
Coincidentally, Alan Shearer had remarkably similar stats at Newcastle The penalties thing, not the getting chinned by a Leeds player thing...
He did that celebration twice : the first goal he scored for Spurs in an away/home game. After that, never again in a Spurs shirt.
Exactly. It was before your time, yet you claim ''Anyway lets not forget Klinsmann introduced it to the English game when he played for Spurs''