Getting a bit sick of this now. Pundits are going out of their way to defend divers, excuse diving and even criticise the defenders/goalkeepers who are the vitcim of the dives. It's not just one or two pundits either, I've seen it on MOTD, Sky and now on ITV's FA Cup highlights. Case in point today is Hazard trying to win a penalty off Palacios. He even outdid Sagbo as biggest dramatic twat when Chelsea played us so we know he's a bit of a dick for it already. He passed the ball, intending on a one-two but when he realised he wasn't getting it back he just ran into Palacios who actually tried to pull away from him, Palacios had none of his limbs outstretched, Hazard bumps into him and then rolls 5 times. The ref got it spot on by ignoring him but the commentator for ITV (not sure who it was) excused the dive by saying Palacios had "Left his leg straight" which was total bullshit unless he meant that he was stood up straight on his legs. Last week Suarez won that penalty by clearing the ball off the pitch while Guzan dived to take it, they didn't even touch in the end because Suarez was so desperate to go down but he got the penalty and all the pundits were having a go at Guzan. I know he shouldn't dive in but if he doesn't touch Suarez and Suarez not only dives but, deliberately kicks the ball away from himself, the goal, and all of his teammates just to make sure he could go down was disgusting but no one on the telly seemed to mind. A year ago diving was the worst thing a player could do, seems like this season we're desperate to excuse it. It's doing my head in. Another one was Palace and Wigan yesterday. Can't remember who went down (Gayle maybe?) but he was pulled back on his shoulder and threw himself down in installments and then started rolling around. Boyce (who had tugged him) had a go at him, presumably for trying to win a penalty rather than playing the ball, which in my view is cheating and is essentially diving. Clarke Carlisle in the studio (a centre half remember) criticised Boyce for 'having the cheek' to confront a cheater. I bet he used to love it when attackers tried to win penalties off him/get him sent off and never complained once.
I saw the Hazard one and couldn't believe they weren't hounding in him for it. He should have been booked.
It was Clark Carlisle - in fact, that was the very moment I felt compelled to write on another thread this afternoon about how crap he was. It was a truly bizarre view to express, even more so from a former centre-half. Sam Matterface, the main commentator, made a slightly more sensible comment when they showed the replay, but he was too polite to disagree openly with the "expert" sitting next to him.
The one hazard tried to get at our place where he literally jumped sideways into our player and threw himself down in one go made me roar with laughter at the game. Sickening. If it wasn't for all the money we've spunked I'd be desperate to get relegated. The football is of a higher quality granted but there's less games and a good proportion are filled with cheating t**ts. Just infuriates me and takes the enjoyment out of spectating for me, specially if they actually cheat a result. One thing that's really getting on my tits about diving and cheating recently is refs are just ignoring it and not even bothering to book the scum. So many of the decisions are either dive or foul yet they just wave play on and the scum just tries again 5 minutes later without so much as a clip on the ear.
I really ****ing hate it when they say "he's been clever there, winning that freekick/penalty". No, he hasn't been clever - he's being a ****ing cheat! Dicks the lot of them.
The thing is, nowadays contact=penalty. even if the contact is nowhere near enough to knock you over or disrupt your motion. Some players would prefer to go down even though they could have scored. It's sad really.
Yeah I hate that. Everyone hated Suarez for all his cheating until recently. Now it seems as though because he's become one of the best players in the league, his cheating is justified as being 'clever play'. The media can't seem to comprehend he can be a great player but still a cheat. And it's clearly not just him. It must be something they're taught. I couldn't do it myself. It's just so unnatural it needs to be practiced in advance. Naturally you would try to keep your feet, it's human instinct.
It's taught at a young age, well it was to us. It was amazing when we played in Italy and Spain, young kids going down like they'd been shot.
I remember at school Conor Townsend used to get the piss taken out of him for his diving on the school field which people speculated was taught at City. Don't know if it was true or not.
Sergio Agüero is the benchmark to look up to. And Messi. See how they get battered and kicked but they just stay on their feet, keep going and score more goals as a consequence. I think every player caught diving on a weekend should be lined up and shot on a Monday.
