Diving's just wrong. There's nothing ambiguous about it, deliberately going down after minimal (or no) contact is morally indefensible. Fortunately, our penalty was apparently given for a foul on Puncheon, not Rodriguez' alleged dive, so I don't have to feel embarrassed on his behalf. But diving's wrong, and I would support any concerted effort by the authorities to stamp it out.
Watching Football First and am now convinced that the penalty was harshly given for Guzans tackle on Puncheon, trying to lip read Rodriguez he appears to be saying that he wasn't fouled, the Referee just shook his head and pointed to the spot. Hard to call it.
Yeah, he didn't appeal for a pen, he just protected himself, if anyone got it wrong it the ref. Saying that, for us usually play just continues & we get nothing, so I'm not complaining.
Just to clarify, Rodriguez did not simulate a foul. He wasn't attempting to win a penalty at all, the ref just made a poor decision. I am not convinced that MH gave it for the Guzan one btw, but if he did, then that wasn't a foul either.
Don't think there was a foul by Guzan or Stevens. But suppose the penalty *was* given for the Guzan's tackle. What would have happened is this: Guzan takes out Puncheon who does nothing. The ref gives advantage. Rodriguez goes down, and play is stopped. Penalty is given. Immediately every fan and every media outlet goes crazy talking about a dive. But in fact the penalty was given for an earlier play which no one noticed because Saints continued to play like nothing happened. You know, the way you are supposed to. Now I'm not saying Saints are well... saints. They continued to play most likely because they didn't think Guzan fouled Puncheon. And I don't know for sure if that's why the ref gave the penalty but that is supposedly what Halsey told Andy Crosby. It's at least reasonable grounds for withholding judgment. But the fact that no one even bothers to consider the earlier play, which may have been a dubious penalty but was certainly not a dive just highlights how stupid the fans are. Puncheon didn't dive and no one paid any attention to it whatsoever. Then they wonder why players dive. If you don't dive, no one notices. If you fall down-- whether it was a dive or not a dive or even if it doesn't matter because the penalty was already given-- you're going to be accused of diving in a rush to judgment anyway.
If Rodriguez leaves his foot there the villa defender breaks his ankle.ok no contact but he's not trying to win a pen just preventing his ankle being broken!
I thught it was a shameful dive and I was expecting it to be all over the papers and the news this morning like it would have been if King Luis Suarez did it.
I assume your only knowledge of the incident is coloured by the complete crap spouted on MOTD. If you had been reading this thread you would know that the penalty was not given for Rodriguez's "dive", but for the supposed foul by Guzan on Puncheon a couple of seconds earlier, which the ref was playing advantage for. Rodriguez was seen to say " he didn't foul me" so why would he do that? As has been said above, he was moving his ankle to avoid a possibly serious injury, and fell over. Before you accuse me of being blinkered, I accept that we do have people who dive at Southampton, Adam Lallana being probably the worst offender. Jay Rodriguez, however, has not shown any evidence that he is one.
The only other issue here is that even with the Guzan foul on Puncheon, the Referee was looking for an excuse NOT to award the Penalty, had JRod scored it would have saved his embarrasment, if it was indeed a foul, I am not convinced, he shouldn't have hesitated to point to the spot, his hesitance has caused the controversy, not an apparent dive.
Suarez gets a lot of bad Press, not always deserved imo, but he ain't no angel! I suggest you watch the incident a few more times and may be you may change your opinion, but it's not really any of your worry! As the Penalty wasn't for that incident it is a bit irelevant anyhow.
Good luck today against United, hope there is plenty of cheating and simulation, give the pundits something else to bleat on about.
Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don`t - seems to me that most pens have an element of doubt. The real talking point should be Lowton`s knee-high studs-up assault on Ramirez. For that incident, Villa deserved nothing out of the game and justice is done. Next game please !
Talking of diving, I had this post removed by the BBC (twice) 'Luis Suarez could quit English football if he continues to be "victimised", says former Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli.' Oh cry me a river. Maybe if Liverpool (ex-)employees didn't support him blindly he might just possibly not be such a tool. I wouldn't blindly support any Portsmouth players if they acted like prats. Yes, it's not the most sugar-coated post ever, but it's not flaming, it's not trolling, etc. I think I'm making a very valid points. If fans and employers (i.e. managers) actually stopped blindly supporting their players when they act like twats (i.e. Liverpool fans over Suarez), then maybe just maybe they would stop acting as such.
Slightly surprised at you PL. You could have easily toned that post down to the point where it was still every bit as effective, yet not be in any danger of being removed. I suspect you already know this.
There's nothing wrong with being blunt and to the point on the odd occasion. But yes, I could easily re-write that and it may not be removed, I may do so in fact (I think it's just cause I'm so used to this site where people can be blunt).
Indeed there isn't. But if you are posting on a BBC website, you know that it isn't one of those times. They will remove anything that can be construed as offensive.
