From Ian Metcalf :
Hi Myles,
A lot has been said and written about diving and how to stamp it out. Suarez was embarrassing again at the weekend leading to calls for three match bans for guilty players.
Surely, now, it’s time for a new, creative approach to this problem?
So, how about this:
Instead of booking them or banning them or interfering with the flow of the game, why not have a specialist panel sit after every round of matches?
Any player found guilty would then have ‘open season’ declared on them for the next match they play.
So, for the next 90 minutes the guilty player plays, no player will be penalised for any foul or contact on that player whatsoever, however serious.
No fouls given, no yellow or red cards, no penalties. Open season!
My bet is that the cowardly divers would begin to behave themselves immediately!
Unlikely, I know, but, boy, would I love to see it!
Myles says :
You’re being frivolous,Ian .
I hope you haven’t caught that habit from me.
Managers have to be stronger.
Obviously, it’s harder for Brendan Rodgers to criticise Suarez when Liverpool are 14th in the table and when Suarez was at Liverpool before he was.
But listen to Roberto Di Matteo, a cool operator.
Di Matteo was talking yesterday about Eden Hazard, a talented dribbler who protects the ball very well until he gets into the box, then tumbles.
Hazard teases a mistake out of his opponent, waits for contact, then falls over.
That’s not the same as falling over without being touched.
Di Matteo sensibly said, “In England, you need to stay on your feet. I wouldn’t want officials to have a prejudice.”
For me that’s exactly the point. If you’re playing in England, stay on your feet,
In bigger future games, a notorious diver’s reputation will cost him decisions.
Fouls on him will go unpunished in must-win games and people will have no sympathy.
This isn’t the Dutch League or South America or France.
You earn far more money here but the scrutiny is relentless and divers get the wrong kind of publicity for their clubs.
Managers must be stronger. They must stop defending the indefensible.