No wonder Zaha thinks Vicarage Road is a dive...
WILFRIED ZAHA has unhappy memories of Vicarage Road, where last season Watford mascot Harry the Hornet dived in front of him, mocking him for going down too easily.
Yesterday, Zaha was left again wondering whether his reputation for going down in the area is working against him after his fourth yellow card for simulation.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson, asked about referee Chris Kavanagh’s decision, said Adrian Mariappa fouled Zaha. ‘Reputations are a dangerous thing,’ he added. ‘Who gives them the reputation? Where he has suffered badly is where other managers have come in and give the media their version of the story and brand him someone who dives for penalties. And of course, the more it’s written and spoken about, the more the legend will circulate. He’s anything other than a cheat and a diver.’
Zaha was involved in two penalty claims, the first as he fought for the ball with Christian Kabasele. In the aftermath of that Abdoulaye Doucoure charged towards Zaha to accuse him of diving and there were shoves between the two. It was foolish by Doucoure, who was already booked.
Then, in the 62nd minute, Zaha turned in the area and Mariappa slid in, seemed to catching his foot and when the Palace man went down, Kavanagh booked him.
Watford manager Javi Gracia said of Zaha: ‘He is the player with the most amount of dribbles in the Premier League. He got four penalties for Palace this season. He has that style of play.’
Watford dominated play in the first half and hit the crossbar through Stefano Okaka’s header.
Joel Ward started as Palace right-back instead of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and, to put it politely, he was all
over the shop. Only Wayne Hennessey denied Ward from scoring an own goal.
In the second half, Luka Milivojevic hit the bar and James Tomkins a post but it was Zaha’s penalty claim that made him the centre of attention.
As Hodgson said, a reputation can be a dangerous thing.