Dyche goes to war after Van La Parra takes tumble
SOME would call it gamesmanship, Sean Dyche called it cheating.
Huddersfield’s Rajiv van La Parra had peeled away from Matthew Lowton right in front of Turf Moor’s Ladbrokes Stand.
He called for the early pass. Tom Ince obliged, with Van La Parra bearing down on Nick Pope and ready to end the tedium. The substitute clumsily overran Ince’s ball and fell to the floor. Theatrically, you might say. Embarrassingly so. ‘Cheating,’ Dyche remarked plainly.
Lowton did not touch Van La Parra, brought on to stretch Burnley in precisely this way. James Tarkowski stood over Huddersfield’s winger, incensed.
The FA do not have the power to ban the 26-year-old given referee Chris Kavanagh dealt with the situation by showing him a yellow card. Had Huddersfield won the penalty then Van La Parra would be looking at a twomatch suspension. Dyche cannot understand that.
‘I have been harking on about it for about three years with diving,’ Dyche said. ‘I’m not saying we’re whiter than white, but if one of my players does it, they’re getting the curly finger next week.
‘It’s unacceptable. It’s not about the player, it’s the moment. I talk of it for the good of the game. It’s about my kid watching the game, kids diving all over the place, they copy players and it’s got to go. That one today is as bad as I’ve seen. I don’t know the player as a person, it might be off the scale for him, but it’s about the moment. I was a defender and if you touch someone and they go down it’s gamesmanship, but when there is no contact and going down? That’s got to go.’
Huddersfield manager David Wagner had not studied the video but said: ‘I’ve spoken to him and it was a dive. We don’t like to see that.’
The incident livened up the lifeless. For both, this was another point towards the target. And for both, while a largely tedious affair, a valuable afternoon’s work.
Chris Wood glanced wide when he ghosted between Huddersfield’s centrehalves, while Laurent Depoitre lazily struck straight at Pope when Ince laid on. But that was pretty much that.
Burnley (4-4-1-1): Pope 6.5; Lowton 6, Tarkowski 7, Mee 6.5, Ward 7; Arfield 6.5 (Gudmundsson 77mins), Cork 6.5, Defour 7.5, Brady 6; Hendrick 6 (Barnes 74, 6); Wood 6. Subs not used: Legzdins, Vokes, Westwood, Bardsley, Long. Booked: Cork, Arfield, Tarkowski. Huddersfield Town (4-2-3-1): Lossl 6; Smith 6.5, Jorgensen 6, Schindler 7, Lowe 6.5; Hogg 6 (Billing 80), Mooy 7; Sabiri 6 (Van La Parra 62, 5), Ince 7, Kachunga 6 (Hadergjonaj 89); Depoitre 6. Subs not used: Green, Malone, Whitehead, Hefele. Booked: Sabiri, Van La Parra. referee: Chris Kavanagh 7