2 points lost for Villa, Cheating by Sewerage, Bad day at the office by Jon Moss, allowed himself to be conned.
Sums up why I can't be bothered with diving anymore, so much hypocrisy from the pundits where they fail to call it with another blatant dive. Redknapp even pulls out the microscope to show blades of grass flying out which proved something, apparently. Farcicle. Suarez dived. Doesn't mean he's not player of the season so far, doesn't mean he's the worst diver in the league but he dived. Why's it so hard for them to admit? 2 soft penalties in 2 games to save Liverpool's bacon, they won't win the title if they have to rely on dodgy decisions every week
I know that annoyed me as well YV. Petrov bottled it. He should have said it was a blatant dive. I would love to have seen the look on Redknapp's face if he had. I knew 100% he would say it was a penalty.
Yeah, an inexperienced pundit going with the flow is hardly a surprise though. If that's enough contact to win a penalty then our players need to make sure they're doing the same. Similarly, the one PNP highlights another thing I think we need to look to take advantage off. Suarez is one of the most consistent for buying this kind of freekick. Anyone running past you , put yourself in the way at the last second and let them knock you over, easy freekick/penalty. I don't think they should be given but they are so we should be looking to take advantage too, it's so easy.
Shoud be a video ref. Proven dive should get a yellow card, proven dive and appeal for penalty should get a straight red. It would put an end to it.
Will this see Benteke back to form as he was superb last year, started the season in superb form. Gets injured and struggles. Was he over rated or genuine class? Be good to see him return or he could be another inconsistent Belgium player!
Yeah, I think he's been played a lot through injuries but I have to admit I've been surprised by his lack of goals after a good start. Can't say I've seen much of him during the goalless period but he looked good without having the kind of dominating presence he has at his best. I'd still have him at Spurs in a heartbeat, quality talent well suited to the league.
I've just left a message on the Mouser thread. I feel sullied, soiled, sickened, but Goofy's latest antics. Even Steve Nicol, on TalkSport tonight, said it was a dive. The only good that will come out of this is that the ref, when he looks back at the footage, and sees how he's been made to look a complete and utter clown, will never again give Goofy the benefit of the doubt. A black day for football.
Suarez has what every top footballer has in today's game, a natural reaction to view being touched as a trigger to force their body to the ground or if they have the opportunity to invent being tackled then it's because the player from the opposition dared to try and win the ball! It's pathetic and a form of cheating but virtually every top player is at it.
As I've already said, a video ref could quickly end this problem. Firstly if a player isn't impeded sufficiently to make him fall to ground he should receive a yellow card (even if a foul is given in his favour). If there is no significant contact and the forward goes to ground and appeals, the colour of the card should be red.
The idea of 'impeded sufficiently' is very very ambiguous as well, remember when Bale was going down with minimal contact last year and the view was that he was so quick that the slightest contact at full pace could send him down? The idea of a purely anti-simulation video ref is a good one but there would undoubtedly be problems and potentially inconsistencies as different officials would see things slightly differently.
Impeded sufficiently could be a little ambiguous, however, when things are black and white it leaves no room for interpretation. There would be inconsistencies but it would move the balance away from cheaters like Suarez, Bale on occasions and even Townsend. The problem is that seeing the likes of Suarez and Bale doing it, young players see it as the way to go. It needs to be cut out. It has been around for far too long, my old granddad used to criticise Rodney Marsh for going to ground far too easily. Bale always said that he had the right to go to ground if he had been touched. IMHO that is totally wrong. Football used to be a contact sport. A foul shouldn't be given unless a player is impeded. A touch is not enough otherwise every time a keeper comes for a ball in his area and touches an opponent whilst catching a ball a penalty would be give as well. That would be crazy. Simulation is worse than committing a foul because it is fraud.
"If he didn't dive he must have been struck by lightening." Which would make Suarez the only person ever to get struck by lightning 20 times a year.
How often are they though? I mean I'd say the one yesterday was a clearcut dive but as we've seen since pundits and fans are split on it with some getting out the magnifying glass to prove the point. I think it's really depressing that people are taking the attitude that contact means it's not a dive and worse, that it's a penalty! He's been brushed at most and there's no evidence to show he's off balance because he just throws himself forward. I don't care what player it is, I don't really blame them as I'd like to see our players do it more since it's becoming acceptable, but it does make me sad the attitude that "winning" penalties is part of the game now. Refs, the FA and the media can take the blame for this bullshit. Also, as it was brought up, remember when Bale was getting booked last season? The point the referees were trying to get across was that contact doesn't mean it's a foul and the media towed that line and now they're saying the exact opposite.
