Niasse gets nailed but when will a big six star be branded a cheat?

DAVID UNSWORTH believes Oumar Niasse is not a player who would fall down with no reason.

Those who have closely observed Niasse’s prowess since he came to the Premier League might disagree.

There was, however, definitely a reason he fell down at Selhurst Park last Saturday and it was to try and dupe ref Anthony Taylor into awarding Everton a penalty (below). He was successful and has now been punished. Good.

Unsworth, in as unconvincing a defence of his striker as you could imagine, predictably went on to talk about a ‘dangerous precedent’ being set.

He is right there. It is a dangerous precedent for those thinking of conning refs.

Diving is nothing new, of course, but simulation has threatened to become the rule rather than the exception.

Unsworth, again predictably, goes on to talk about ‘contact’.

There was ‘contact’; between Scott Dann and Niasse and that is what makes this verdict even more welcome.

At long last, it is official confirmation that contact is not always a credible alibi for a cheat, an unwitting cheat or not.

Niasse might well have settled his own case with his remarks in the immediate aftermath. “The contact was on my upper body but when I felt the contact I was in the box so that is it. That is all I have to do, go on the floor.”

No, you don’t. No one is automatically entitled to go down, as is often said.

It has been pointed out by some on social media that Niasse, the first Premier League player to be disciplined under the directive governing the ‘Successful Deception of a Match Official’, happens to be one of the less-celebrated Premier League strikers and does not play for one of the Big Six. It will be intriguing to see if, say, a high-profile England player falls foul of this rule (as long as the FA runs both the disciplinary system and the England national team, that issue will always be there). But Niasse was charged purely because – watching the incident independently of each other – an ex-player, an ex-manager, and an ex-official all decided Niasse was trying to deceive Taylor.

Unsworth spoke of the need for ‘experts’. These people are experts.

Presumably, Unsworth would consider Phil Neville and Alan Shearer expert. Neville said it was ‘100 per cent a dive’, Shearer called it ‘a clear dive’.

Other responses to the landmark punishment have included the highlighting of how it does nothing to help Crystal Palace, who might have won, rather than drawn, the game against Everton had it not been for Niasse’s deception. That is the

unavoidable nature of retrospective action and suspensions, they help others rather than th e victims of the crime. But the Niasse ruling should be what the FA intends it to be.

A major deterrent.

Niasse, having started the last two Premier League games, will now miss the games against Southampton and West Ham and might find it hard to regain his Everton place.

More significantly, he now has an indelible mark against his name.

The significance of this decision, presuming it is one of many, is that it calls out those, even at the highest level, whose first instinct is to deceive the officials.