Tony Pulis raised yesterday the matter with PFA. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16890312 My opinion is that FA needs to take action for unsporting behaviour. Don't think is any different from other incidents that are punished after the game. The difference should be that it needs a different approach with warning, deselection for the national team and then suspension in the case of repeated offenders. Obviously I'm biased because of Tom's (aka Johnson) diving performance who went unpunished! What are your thoughts?
The problem comes down to who's opinion do you take as being correct ? If you take a few instances yesterday. ESPN commentary after looking at the replay all said he had cheated and dived, with no contact. MOTD Shearer then said there was minimal contact and thought Johnson didn't dive. If you look at the dive before a slow motion replay you would be fooled into thinking its a penalty. Cisse was sent off for retaliation, Kolarov and Dembele locked heads and both were lucky not to see Red. Givet gets sent off at Arsenal, but Lampard against Wolves gets away with it. It's become part of our game where players try and get players sent off. Do we allow Video evidence to convict cheats and players who fool the Refs. My answer is Yes, if it can stop the cheating. UEFA's answer is No, because where do you stop with video evidence. it's a game of opinions.
This brings into question the whole debate regarding video evidence during the game in my opinion. My initial reaction, realtime, was that it looked like a penalty. The ref must have thought the same thing. However, with the use of replays it is very clear that Baird attempts to withdraw his leg and that Johnson kicks his leg out, searching for Baird's leg. This is play attacking on Johnson's behalf. Had an official watching the game via a monitor been in use, the ref would have to have booked him, add to that his second blatant dive and he would have sent off, thus changing the game. Cheating needs to be stamped out of football completely, whether it is done retrospectively or during the game. A player of Adam Johnson's obvious talent should not be resorting to this kind of behavior. I do believe though that it should start with the club receiving some sort of punishment. This is a problem that could be dealt within the club, so dock points for diving and it will disappear overnight.
If I were a ref, I'd watch ever game in the EPL, paying special attention to the divers who make me and my colleagues look like idiots. Then next time a diver played, he'd get no calls from me. A defender could walk up and hit him with a fire axe, and I wouldn't give him a call. No official procedures. No written policies managers could complain about, just consequences.
Agree totally I'm not supporting the video evidence during the game, but retrospective review of the incidents.
