In the wake of a the Gunners’ dramatic comeback, Fulham boss and part-time Yao Ming impersonator Lawrie Sanchez has taken to being a Premier League boss like a duck to water – moaning inanely with the best of them,
“I was at the same Premier League meeting with Arsene Wenger and (referees’ chief) Keith Hackett last Tuesday, and it was agreed that simulation was going to be a big no-no this year,” Sanchez said.
“Yet here there were three simulations that went unpunished. That gives people the impression they can get away with it and it didn’t surprise me when the penalty was given.
But looking at the video, we can’t really see that Lawrie has much of a case. And unsurprisingly neither does Arsene Wenger,
“I am totally against simulation but I don’t think this was,” he said.
“You cannot be a coach and encourage these things. I have spoken to players about it in the past and I am for the use of video in any way. But the only way to cut it out is to allow people to receive red cards after the game.”
We still think video evidence is just opening a different can of worms. Often we’ll see a brutal challenge go in, a player jump up to avoid being crushed, and then the fans call for his head for diving because there was ‘no contact’. But surely you don’t have to stand there and have your knees broken for a challenge to be illegal? Getting out of the way is simply self-preservation and doesn’t make someone a diver.
Jens Lehmann, now that’s a diver.