the way I see it is he jumps over the defender to continue his dribble, sees the covering defender is going to beat him to the ball and so goes down. That's a dive. If however he'd ploughed through Simpson (ie.not jumped) a body check is more likely to win you a pen. As it is though, we had a pen appeal turned down (something ignored by most Man U fans) and I feel a draw was fair.
Missed the match last night - early bed cos I've got tonsilitis. I thought there was contact from watching the replay - Simpson catches him very slightly, which I think you can tell from his reaction as he pulls his leg back very sharply when hHernandez goes down. Whether it was a penalty or not is debatable - the rules say it's only a foul if the player is tripped, and I'm not convinced there was enough contact to count as a trip. Either way, Hernandez went down far too theatrically and will probably be embarassed when he watches the replay. The card was a bit harsh, but probably deserved when it's that late in the game and if he wins the penalty it's game over. Haven't seen that one yet, but from what I've read it sounds like we were very lucky to get away with it. Kamran's like Wenger - he never sees the incident if it doesn't coincide with his viewpoint... Me too - sounds like neither side really deserved to lose the game. At least we only have two away games left now...
For the record, I think there was slight contact with Hernandez. Probably not enough to take him down, but still a pen by the letter of the law. But if he was booked for diving, why was Lovenkrands not? The ref obviously thought that one wasn't a penalty either, so surely it would have to be a dive and a caution?
A better example would be why wasn't Gutierrez booked for his blatant dive near the line just outside the box? Okay, it wasn't in the box trying to con a penalty but he blatantly tried to gain an advantage with a terrible dive (nobody even came near to making contact with him so there can be no doubt there was no contact) the ref obviously saw there was no contact as he waved it away, yet no card.
Exactly. But why bother with actual events as evidence when you can stick to the old tired cliches ie. United get all the decisions, Fergie pays refs etc
