When winning a game means so much more than fair play
THERE are potentially 22 cheats starting every football match. each player will do whatever it takes to win a game. Currently, the spotlight is on ashley Young, who is theatrical with his falling, especially in the penalty area.
In Young’s defence, every touch he makes is an attacking move. He travels at pace, runs at defenders, carries the ball into dangerous areas and draws the challenge and, quite often, the foul. He’s an exciting player who makes things happen, but he won’t enjoy the reputation he is getting with his recent antics.
The incident against aston Villa is an example of this. He ran at the defender, won the penalty because he was direct and too fast, but he launched himself up and over to exaggerate the fall. It was unnecessary and became the talking point from manchester United’s 4-0 win, with players of lesser ability criticising him on Twitter.
ashley has been successful in winning penalties. Players in the modern game take the attitude: If I don’t do it, somebody else will.
The win-at-all-costs mentality has been born out of the money and rewards in the modern game. arsene Wenger is right, it
“Refs can’t guess. They have to go on fact, not on feel”
was introduced by foreign players and then replicated by english footballers.
Cristiano Ronaldo was similar to Young when he came to england, Didier Drogba has also been quick to go to ground. Both have, to a certain extent, overcome their early problems.
Luis Suarez has had decisions go against him because of a perceived reputation and Carlos Tevez was booked for diving at norwich when it was a clear penalty. Chris Foy, the referee, escaped more criticism because manchester City went on to win 6-1 and Tevez scored a hat-trick.
I was on the pitch when Robbie Fowler was awarded a penalty at arsenal in 1997 following a challenge by David Seaman. The difference with that was Robbie’s reaction as he bounced to his feet and waved his hands at the referee to insist he had not been fouled by his england team-mate.
Robbie, like ashley Young, was quick and had beaten my Sportsmail colleague martin Keown to a long ball played from the back. Seaman rushed from his line to meet Robbie on the edge of the box and, while there was contact, Robbie didn’t think there had been enough to warrant a penalty.
The referee claimed not to have heard his protests, even though Robbie was shouting ‘no, ref, no’ (you can see it clearly on Youtube). He gave the decision. Robbie looked crestfallen, but I was only interested in a goal and in the win.
I said to him: ‘get your hands down and stick the ball in the net.’ It was a game at the top of the table and winning mattered more than fair play.
Robbie’s penalty was saved — he shouldn’t have taken it, really, he wasn’t in the right frame of mind — but Jason mcateer scored from the rebound, which resulted in ‘cheat’ claims from the arsenal supporters. Robbie won a FIFA award for his actions, but I wonder who would do that now?
There isn’t much sympathy for referees at the moment, certainly not in my family, but it’s so hard for them to decide what is a penalty and what is a dive. Players don’t make it easy for them.
What we can’t have is officials guessing; they have to referee on fact, not on feel. I’m convinced martin atkinson awarded that goal at Wembley in the Fa Cup semi-final between Chelsea and Spurs because of the reaction of Juan mata and other Chelsea players. He saw them celebrating, so he gave the goal. Would he have reached the same decision if he hadn’t made a mistake missing a QPR ‘ goal’ in similar circumstances just five weeks ago?
Referees have to be certain it is a dive without any contact for it to be cheating or else they will get more wrong that right.
We are at the business end of the season and I’m certain you will see more diving in the coming weeks — and not just from ashley Young. every player who enters the field is looking at ways he can decide the game in favour of his team.
There will be a huge outcry if a dive determines the outcome of a big match, but don’t be surprised if that’s the case.