Troy Deeney says professional players have no problems with players seemingly diving to get penalties like Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah allegedly did last week.
Kane was awarded a penalty after he backed into Adam Lallana and the former Liverpool man was adjudged to have fouled him.
Salah was awarded a penalty when he had the minimal contact with Arthur Masuaku in Liverpool’s last Premier League game.
Some fans have been outraged by the soft nature of both calls, but Deeney says players don’t think so much about it being cheating.
He claimed that when a penalty of that nature is awarded one can see that the offending player simply walks away after maybe shrugging their shoulders.
He claimed that VAR has even made it easier to think that the player was truly fouled because looking at some of those fouls via slow-motion will make the offender culpable.
He wrote on Sun Sports: “Two of the Premier League’s finest players — Mo Salah and Harry Kane — were accused of winning penalties with a lack of total honesty last weekend.
“But if you really think that professional footballers were looking at those incidents and saying, ‘It’s embarrassing, it’s got to stop’ then you’re sadly mistaken.
“No one in the game is outraged. No one thinks it’s anything like an athlete doping in the 100 metres.
“It’s our job to win games of football. To do whatever it takes, to gain any advantage.
“If there is any sort of contact from a defender in the penalty box, then it is perfectly acceptable to go down.
“Even the opposition will not seriously complain.
“You see someone go down, and a penalty awarded, and there will be a shrug of the shoulder from the attacking player and a knowing look from the defender as if to say ‘yeah, it’s part and parcel of the game’.”
I agree it was happening for years before VAR too. I just think at the top level where VAR is used that players will start to know what they can gain from the way VAR in their favour. The detail is so fine in a way it never was just with the refs and lino’s eye alone.
That’s been going on for ages even before VAR. Laws of the Game can’t legislate for players becoming more clever in selling fouls or penalties. That’s a part of the game that’s almost impossible to control except simulation.
All I know is, at one time there would need to be more ‘obvious’ impediment of the attacker in the area to draw a pen than there is now. VAR surely means the micro analysis of even the slightest contact would encourage players to capitalise on it further.
So what is “more significant contact”? That’s way too ambiguous. The current laws are fine in this regard, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The issue here is whether players are manipulating the laws to their advantage and the answer is probably, yes. However, in the Kane situation he did nothing wrong and even though he looked at Lallana, the defending player was reckless in his challenge and Kane had stood still so was entitled to the space. The only issue was whether it was inside or outside the area, with on the line being inside the area.
They’d probably be further a head were he still there is another way to look at it
Also, I see that Saints have hardly capitulated since PEH left!
Fair point really. If the current ‘laws’ of the game say that any contract in the area that results in a player going down is a pen, no matter how minimal, what do we expect attacking players to do? Change it so it has to be more significant contact that actually impedes the player and it will soon stop.
Fair point really. If the current ‘laws’ of the game say that any contract in the area that results in a player going down is a pen, no matter how minimal, what do we expect attacking players to do? Change it so it has to be more significant contact that actually impedes the player and it will soon stop.