FA puzzle over Lanzini ‘dive’

It’S a bit of a dive, but not an outrageous dive deserving of an FA charge.

I’m sorry if that doesn’t make sense, but that’s how hard it is to referee players such as Manuel Lanzini.

I can understand why it incensed Mark Hughes, who needed help and didn’t get any.

Leicester’s Wilfried Ndidi took an obvious dive and it was an easy decision for Martin Atkinson, but Lanzini was different.

He draws a tackle and expects the contact from Erik Pieters, who shapes to challenge and goes to ground but doesn’t follow through. Lanzini’s legs crumble, as players do in the modern game. they will tell you it is to avoid injury.

It’s a hard call for the referee Graham Scott. My first thought was dive. then I thought it was a penalty. the one thing it isn’t is ‘fatigue’ at the end of a long dribble, which is what David Moyes claimed. Sorry David. You’re not pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes with that!

It will be interesting to see how the FA panel react this morning. If Lanzini gets a ban, he will miss important games against Newcastle and Bournemouth — both of whom are now below West Ham in the table, thanks to the help of Lanzini’s theatrics.