I'd balance that out by saying he was non-existent against West Ham and had to be brought off to avoid being sent off at Palace.
He did his job against West Ham, shame our keeper made a horrible mistake for the first and Chamberlain gave away the ball in his own half for the second, he was taken off because we were two down and were chasing the game, so went all out. Palace was probably his weakest performance since his return. But you ignored the Liverpool game, where had he not made some last ditch tackles thanks to our CB's having nightmares we would have been two or three down by the first half. Even saw a Liverpool fan acknowledge his performance on our match thread. please log in to view this image
For me, the greatest diving clubs in football are Arsenal, Chelsea, and United, and have been for quite a while. Little surprising, that these are the teams that have clung, so desperately, on to a top 4 spot! It's as though you cannot get top 4 unless you are prepared to cheat and dive your way to the top. £ity is an exception, because they have a bottomless well of money with which to buy their glory, so they don't have to cheat and dive. Of the three, I'm not prepared to say which club is the worst for diving. If Eduardo was still part of the Arsenal set-up, I'd say that AFC was definitely the worst, because Eduardo took the art of diving and raised it to new levels of finesse! He was a true genius; he took whatever it was that Wenger teaches these boys in training, honed it, and created something quite remarkable. It was as though Eduardo was able to perform something equivalent to the Yedi mind-trick on refs. We'd see the player make an over-the-top obvious dive, arms and head thrown back, legs kicked backwards off the ground, followed by umpteen rolls on the deck, with hands tightly clasped to face in a fantastic demonstration of mock-agony. It was often quite comical, despite the feeling of nausea that one would feel in the pit of one's stomach as one was watching it, and yet, the ref never saw it! To get away with something like that took real genius. And the post-match interviews used to be equally comical. Interviewer: "What about the dive, Arsene?" Wenger: "I did not see it, so I cannot say." Interviewer: "But it happened on the touchline, right next to you. At one point, Eduardo actually rolled into your lap, and you gave him a kiss!" Wenger: "Again, I can only say that I did not see it." Interviewer: "And what about that speck of dust that your goalie said got into his eye just as he was about to make a save, that led to their goal?" Wenger: "It was a disgrace that the ref allowed that speck of dust to commit this foul!" Interviewer: "But it was a speck of dust, for ****sake, Arsene!" Wenger: "Yes, but I could see it perfectly, from where I was sitting, on the other side of the ground."
Now, this is how diving is done properly. Not even a hint of contact, and a perfect nose first plunge to the deck...
They should make simulation a 3 match banning offence if (a) the ref missed the incident (ie. was successfully hoodwinked by the cheat), and (b) replays clearly demonstrate that there was no contact. If the cheat/hookwinking lead to a converted penalty, then that goal ought to be retrospectively disallowed, too. If the incident lead to the sending-off of a opposition player, that sending-off ought to be rescinded, and the player given a longer ban and/or his club given a heavy fine. That would go a long way to stopping the cheats.
Three those from when he was at Barca, just a mere coincidence? Maybe not when you think about the likes of Busquets,Alves,Neymar and Alba. He has not won us a single pen.
lots of them dive nowadays .. in all teams . arsenal have a lot of small players I know ..and yes sometimes the big tall strong players do push them . my son gets this all the time as him being lightweight and small ...and it is a foul ... agreed the thing I don't like is the 3 foot off the ground jump which is followed ... it looks stupid and is cheating .. if it was that bad how was he able to continue afterwards ,instead he was like a spring lamb when he got back up .. a rugby player must shake his head when he views a football match nowadays ...
An example of the worst Dive I've seen... ironically AGAINST Arsenal. Robben and Suaraz are two nasty bastards who spring to mind... please log in to view this image
I'm not just saying this because it's Arsenal, but Cazorla clearly steps on The Ancient One's heel. He does go on to take another couple of steps and then dive, but it's arguably a foul. Cazorla's not intending or expecting it either, as he stumbles as a result of it.
