Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson may want to have a word with Mohamed Salah about diving, says BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks.
The Reds beat West Ham 2-1 at Anfield in their most recent Premier League game, with Salah scoring from the penalty spot after appearing to perhaps go down a little too easily.
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While there may well have been a bit of an overreaction to the whole thing, it’s never nice to see top players resorting to deceiving referees to gain decisions in their favour.
Crooks is the latest to criticise Salah’s antics, and has suggested in his Premier League team of the week column that Henderson could do well to have an uncomfortable conversation with his team-mate about this issue.
“I didn’t think it was a Liverpool penalty at the time and I still don’t,” Crooks said. “I have criticised Mohamed Salah in the past for going down in the box when not touched. I’ve no doubt contact was made by West Ham’s Arthur Masuaku but as far as contact sports go, that was no foul. However it’s the referee’s opinion that counts and Kevin Friend thought otherwise.
“Jordan Henderson played a captain’s part in pulling Liverpool through a difficult fixture against the Hammers on Saturday. It was Henderson’s controlled pass to Xherdan Shaqiri which resulted in Diogo Jota scoring Liverpool’s winner.
“I wonder if Henderson might have a gentle word with Salah to remind him that he has placed himself among the Liverpool greats – and not to spoil it with cheap nonsense like diving.”
Liverpool fans will perhaps feel some justification in feeling frustrated at the amount of coverage this has had, with many other players doing the same thing and getting away without being hounded by the media.
Whinging gits. Clear foul. Just because he went down theatrically doesn’t mean it’s not a foul.