Its time the authorities sorted the divers out if the Refs are not up to it. Mind they will wait until the weekend we get a dodgy decision then the clampdown will start and we will get hammered.
A 6 month ban for the player with the side still paying his wages. I'm sure managers will soon tell the players to cut the cheating out.
I believe that Snodgrass has 'publicly' admitted that it wasn't a penalty, without confessing that it was a 'dive'. please log in to view this image This MAY draw the fire from any official retrospective action. I call it 'getting your defense in FIRST'. I suppose it would depend on if he 'claimed a Penalty' after the event. (I didn't watch MotD ). If he did, he is lying, if he didn't he is probably telling the truth. What is beyond doubt is that he didn't run up to the Ref at the time and tell him he'd made a mistake. However, only a dweller in cloud cuckoo-land would expect that. please log in to view this image
Yesterday, Danny Rose lunged pathetically at Mkhitaryan, simply because he was battered for pace by the Armenian and made to look like the 2nd rate right back that he is. Rose's weight come down onto Mickey's ankle and our match winner was stretchered off with an injury. If Mkhitaryan was to dive out of the way of this lunge and hit the deck, he'd be ok to play in our next game but the ref may have booked him and given Spurs a free kick. It's nowhere near as cut and dry as handing out bans or points deductions to 'divers', each one has to be analysed on it's individual merits.
Surely that goes without saying? Similar to when red cards are appealed their is a 'comittee' who analyse the situation etc and make a decision based on this?
Is it justice though? Would you care if your striker had dived and got a pen to win a relegation deciding game against Newcastle and was subsequently banned for the next game, a meaningless game against United on the last day, as you celebrated staying up? The justice for me has to come on the pitch, immediately and retrospective bans, fines or points deductions won't change player instinct, when it's being taught from an early age to hit the deck as soon as you feel any sort of physical contact. The anticipation of that contact will always lead to players falling over from now on.
In your scenario, no that's not justice at all, but that's am extreme circumstance. It's never been black or white, and even if the authorities do bring in some form of retrospective action it still won't be perfect. If we think of where it hurts the modern day footballer, their pocket? 3 game ban and fined x amount weeks wages? What would you suggest?
I think there's too much of a grey area, the anticipation thing is big for me. If somebody goes to hit you in the face, and stops before they make contact, does that stop you from swerving the punch? Chances are you've ducked before you know he's stopped the swing. This is the same principle if you're dealing with a contact sport at such velocity, so it's not as easy as saying "Snodgrass, you ****, nobody touched you, 3 games and £50k fine". There's some which are comical, and deserve the ban and the fine, such as the ones Ashley Young is famous for, but others... for me, they could be solved with a simple drop ball situation. The player has a right to self defence but doesn't need a free kick. This is what Fergie/Wenger/Mourinho mean when talking about protecting their players, the lads have to take a crack to the ankle/shins, to get a free kick or they get accused of being cheats. It's no win, and eventually they'll get injured.
He takes the penalties so why didn't he say to the keeper "I wasn't fouled, it was never a penalty so I'll kick this back to you" so either tell the ref it wasn't a foul or intentionally miss the penalty - either way he's a cheat
I'm no fan of cheating, but as it was against Palace, who actually dived their way to promotion, I'm letting him off.
