New writer OverLandAndSea is none too pleased about the latest antics of one of the Premiership’s notorious ‘simulators’.
So the first round of premiership games have now completed and there’s already diving controversy, none more so than at Brammall Lane, as Steven Gerrard dives yet again to get Liverpool a penalty. This is a dark side that the England vice-captain has to his game and you would have thought he’d cut it out by now but it refuses to go away. Gerrard is a sublime talent who embodies all that we expect from a blood-and-guts English midfielder yet at the same time he’s also gaining a reputation amongst neutral fans as a cheat.
Of course, the english media being the biased hacks that they are, fail to mention or launch the sort of campaign they have at other players. Had it been Drogba, Robben or Ronaldo or if Gerrard had been of French or Italian he’d of it would have been a different matter altogether. Our domestic game is the most hypocritical I know and the double standards borders on racism to a certain extent.
The likes of Wayne Rooney and or the Coles have gotten away with playacting or simulation before without more than a mumur from the press and it’s not good enough. It shouldn’t matter who you are or where you are from diving is unacceptable so let’s not be afraid at having a go at our english players.
How can we expect to cut this behaviour out of the game if we choose to turn away when it shatters our image of the English player?
The Shieffield United incident and more Gerrard diving after the jump: