ANGRY ZAHA DIVES IN WITH BOTH FEET
Wrongly-booked Palace star: Yes, there’s an agenda against me
WILFRIED ZAHA claimed there was “totally” an agenda against him after he was wrongly booked for diving.
Crystal Palace’s controversial winger collected his fourth yellow card for simulation since the start of the 2015-16 season – more than any other player – after being cautioned in the goalless draw at Watford.
A point edged the Eagles closer to safety, but Zaha is convinced that dark forces will not be satisfied until he is banned for diving.
Asked if he felt there was an agenda against him, Zaha told Goals On Sunday: “I feel like there totally is. I see other players dive, but I don’t see people trying to get them banned the way they want me banned.
“I was so shocked when the referee said it was a dive – but I have not been banned for it, so clearly I’m not diving.
“I’ll just play my football, people are going to say what they want to say, but that’s fine as I’ll still play the same way.” In real time, it looked as if Zaha was tripped as he wriggled between Watford midfielder Will Hughes and his former Palace team-mate Adrian Mariappa in the 64th minute of a feisty draw at Vicarage Road. Although Zaha was booked by referee Chris Kavanagh for simulation, forensic replays confirmed there was contact. And the Ivory Coast winger revealed Mariappa had told him after the game it was a foul – and Palace should have been awarded a penalty.
Zaha groaned: “You know what was funny, after the game Mariappa has gone, ‘I’ll be honest, Wilf, it was actually a pen’. Yeah, OK, cheers mate, it makes no difference now.
“But I was happy that he said it, as you get defenders who clean you out then pull you off the ground and say, ‘Stop diving’ – but we should have got a penalty and I got a yellow card.”
Earlier in the game, Zaha had gone down in the box with Watford defender Christian Kabasele briefly grabbing hold of his shirt.
And although he was perfectly entitled to go for the ball, BBC Match Of The Day pundit Kevin Kilbane branded Zaha’s challenge on Hornets keeper Orestis Karnezis “nasty”. The Palace star protested: “I didn’t try to claim for a penalty, but Kabasele has definitely pulled and dragged me as I’m running. That made me stumble and I just happened to fall in the box.
“With the goalkeeper, the ball’s there and I’ve just caught him. It’s not me trying deliberately to kick him in the stomach, but the keeper was clearly trying to get me sent off.”
Andros Townsend agreed that team-mate Zaha’s reputation was undeserved, saying: “Since I’ve been here, I don’t remember a Wilf dive.
“He had one in the first half where it wasn’t a penalty or a dive. That’s the case sometimes when you’re running and changing direction at speed. Your opponent can knock you off-balance and it’s neither.
“In the second half, I had a good view of it and it looked a clear penalty with the naked eye. If you’re talking about natural talent, Wilf ’s probably the most naturally gifted player I’ve ever played with.” Kabasele, who was returning after a three-month injury lay-off, said of his tussle with Zaha: “I know that he has a bad reputation for it, but he told me he did not look for the penalty and it was top-class of him.”