Hmmmmmm, at first when Elmo used to fling himself about and some of his other antics, I would have screamed penalty But eventually it became embarrassing and cringeworthy. If you can find a clip of City v Stoke FA Cup 1971, have a look at Waggys second goal. Just outside the box he takes a clump off their defender, does he go down does he ****. Keeps on going ( and scores). That was the mentality then, get up and keep going, rather than relying on the penalty specialist in the team to take a spot kick. Its crept into the game over the years and we now have to have videos to make decisions, and even that doesn't ****ing work. And by they way, ALLAMS OUT !!!
Only just caught up on this game and seen the highlights. How fantastic was that? Lower league away at a PL big boy side, they'd usually get **** all from the ref. I love how with each booking for diving the Chelsea players kept thinking it'd make them more likely to get a penalty for the next one. Nah sorry lads. And then giving Morata a second yellow for screaming in his face about the award of the first. It's absolutely correct but it never happens and this is the last game you'd expect to see it happen in. Great stuff. I think I like it even more that he didn't bother with VAR cos he was so certain they were cheating, and all three were spot on. People say football is ****ed, and while refs award players who are obviously playing purely for a penalty rather than trying to score that may be the case, but do it like this, make attacking players have to think about actually trying to score instead of always going for a penalty, and the diving problem will soon go away.
No one is 'entitled to go down' - worst phrase in modern football. A player should never look to go down for any reason. Battle your knackers off and give as good as you get.
I've said it before, but it's a really unnatural thing to do. Unless you're specifically taught to 'go down' you'd never do it. Even if someone knocks you off balance your instinct is to try stay on your feet, even moreso when playing sport where wanting to score is your priority.
If someone gives you sufficient contact in the box, and the reward is one of the best chances you could get to score a goal, damn right you're entitled to go down. Particularly when if you didn't, nothing would be awarded and any chance of having a real opportunity is probably lost by the loss of balance from the contact.
I agree but refs have made their own bed here by not giving pens when players don’t go down. There’s been countless occasions when pens weren’t given when a player was fouled but tried to stay on his feet and play on them not score. So something had to change, and rather than the refs it was sadly the played.
If there's one rule that should have changed with the pitch markings back in the late 19th century it's the penalty kick. It's always confounded me why a foul 18yds away from goal on the by-line warrants a direct free kick at goal.
That is part of the problem. The majority of soft penalties seem to be awarded for 'fouls' on the corner of the area near the byline, usually by an attacker who's just darted in there and looking for a quick way to win one. 2 of the 3 Chelsea dives last night are along those lines. Often the attacker deliberately kicks the ball away from goal to make sure an onrushing keeper doesn't get a touch on it and fouls him instead, but if you look at where the ball is going at that point there's absolutely no danger. Half the time it's already on its way out for a goal kick.
And while I'm on one the goal area serves no purpose at all other than for spotting the ball for a goal kick. Get rid of it. Dare anyone suggest a change to the current pitch markings and/or penalty rules after over a century ?
What needs to happen now is the head of the refs gets them in and say right lads we've done it now let's keep it up. Whoevers got Arsenal do the same. Whoevers got Man U do the same. Book em for diving then book em for screaming at you
Anyone found blatantly diving after the match should get a red card. It would soon stop them, and managers would stop encouraging them. We need to crack down on them, take a tough approach and they will soon listen!
Any team gaining from a blatant dive should have the goal removed and the result changed accordingly - now that would stop them
