03 Nov 2020 14:23:59
Regarding the penalty at the weekend, i'm honestly not interested in the was it or wasn't it debate. The simple fact is that 4 players went down easily at the weekend. Kane, Wilson, Ayling and Salah.
Now the Wilson and Salah incidents are both penalties by the rules, but both players exaggerated and feigned pain. It doesn't hurt that much getting kicked on your studs. Masuaku and Gomes probably came off worse. However they mis-timed their challenges and kicked the man.
The Kane penalty is clearly cheating. Kane initiated the contact and then threw himself over. That is absolutely not a penalty in any world. But it was given so whatever.
The Ayling dive was by far the worst of the weekend. Luckily it wasn't given but it was what i'd call an actual dive. That's not going down softly or letting the ref know you were fouled. That is a stone wall dive.
Here is my issue. Wilson, Ayling and Kane are all English. Not one of them has been vilified by the press. In fact, Garth Crooks put Wilson in his team of the weak and described his penalty win as "craftiness" and "astute".
Kane and Ayling were not mentioned or called out at all in the same article and were even available as drop down options for "pick your own team".
Salah on the other hand was singled out twice within the same article with his penalty win described as "cheap nonsene" and a "dive". He was not available as a drop down option despite having an identical impact to Kane (winning and converting a penalty), and his team didn't lose 4-1 like Ayling's Leeds did. In fact, Garth even threw in a statement that Henderson should have a word with Salah!
Oh yeah, get the nice English captain to have a word with the nasty foreigner, yeah? Can we just call the Salah agenda out for what it is? Blatant Xenophobia. Maybe it's subconscious or maybe it's intentional. It's not a Liverpool thing at all so do not go there please. Gerrard went down easily for at least 10 years and never got labelled a serial diver.
This is now so clearly about Salah's heritage (and maybe even his religion) . Frankly, i find it disgusting. If Garth genuinely believes Salah dived then that is fine. But why wouldn't he also call out the 3 English players who were just as guilty if not more so? It's disgusting and yet people will continue to turn a blind eye when it's English players who are being "astute".
{Ed025's Note - i dont think it was because of his heritage MK, more the theatrics of it i think, when someone brushes your foot and you perform a triple salko followed by three twists and finish with a pike people are bound to notice mate..
03 Nov 2020 14:55:12
I agree MK. I don't like going around calling people this or that but when something like this has happened alongside the other incidents you mentioned, yet Salah is the only one vilified, its hard to ignore.
03 Nov 2020 14:56:06
To be fair it happens nearly every week, however not all players are talked about as much as Salah. It was a peno but if he had not of made such a meal of the contact the likely hood is it would not of been given. Salah is one of the best players in the word with a very high profile so he will be talked about, its only natural.
I think its taking advantage of the situation, it won us the game but what comes around goes around so I'm sure it will come back to bite us at some point and we will have to hold our hands up and day "alls fair in love and war"
Just my humble opinion of course.
{Ed025's Note - players get a reputation NB if they continually offend, salah was one of the worst for it a while back but seemed to have seen the error of his ways lately, unfortunately that pathetic one last week puts him back on par with the grealish,s and richarlisons of this world mate..
03 Nov 2020 14:59:58
It is as if Salah is the first and worst player to dive ever. The powers at be clearly do not want it out of the game, it’s happened for the last 20 years and stricter punishments could be imposed if they really wanted.
03 Nov 2020 15:10:46
But Ed025, is Salah the only player who did it this weekend? Watch Wilson go down for the penalty after Gomes challenge. He throws himself down, rolls around etc. Soon as the decision was given he was straight up to take it. Gomes's was a legit reaction of pain. He hobbled away from the challenge. Wilson was not hurt at all. He was barely touched.
I'm not debating whether its a dive or not in the Salah/ Wilson incidents. That's subjective and will go around in circles. What i'm debating is how influential media figures can be allowed to describe two very similar incidents in totally different ways. Why is the English player praised for winning a crafty penalty whilst the foreigner is called a diver? In the same article by the same author!
Go and read it on BBC website mate. It's shocking. He named Henderson in his team of the week and then used 2 of the 3 paragraphs on Henderson to have a go at Salah. In fact i think he has only included Henderson in the team in order to shoe horn in an attack on Salah.
I just want consistency and transparency from the media. Xenophobia exists in all walks of life but we surely want football to transcend such tribalism.
{Ed025's Note - oh it certainly exists MK and its a blight on society not just football mate, salah being high profile and previously having a reputation (deservedly) makes him an easy target for the gutter press and pathetic punditry from has-been nomarks who are paid to court controversy..
03 Nov 2020 15:11:40
MK, in addition to the examples you just gave, Grealish blatantly dived to win a pen vs Leeds but the ref did not buy it and VAR confirmed it. Did not even get a booking. Did you hear about it in the media? No. I wonder why? We have players blatantly diving with no contact hence, cheating yet when Salah and Mane go down or embelish a bit after being clearly fouled and kicked people cry foul. That is my beef. The lack of consistency and obvious bias is deafening here.
Whether it is cos of these players’ heritage, I cannot say for sure but what we do know is that there is an English bias in these situations cos the players you mentioned who dived hence cheated (shocking, I know) are all British. Hey, If it walks and quacks like a duck, it definitely not a bald eagle.
03 Nov 2020 15:43:42
Maddison's was very similar last night aswell.
03 Nov 2020 15:44:08
Why are we still talking about the Salah pen. Surely we're not finished discussing the VVD and Pickford tackle yet lol. On a serious note though let our rivals constantly talk and moan about it. Teams other than us have plenty of decisions go their way that they are happy to turn a blind eye too. The pen was given and it was scored, we won the game and it doesn't matter how much opposition fans bitch and moan about it the decision or result isn't going to change.
{Ed025's Note - its ironic that you mention the VVD incident JK, we had to delete all the posts pertaining to that incident due to the whining and bitching from liverpool supporters for weeks!, liverpool supporters definitely live in glass houses mate..
03 Nov 2020 16:27:09
Ah come on now Ed025,i don't usually go in for all the "poor us"lark but where the difference of attitude from pundits to Salah, compared to "ol Harry our Captain"Kane and say the likes of Rashford it does be comical at times where identical incidents will be classed as "clever forward play" for one and "something we just don't want in the game"while they look at the ground as if someone has died for Salah. Sometimes this would be done in the same programme! As for Salahs reputation i would argue Sterling, Kane, Rashford, Werner, Auba, Vardy all go down as easy if not easier than him so basically allour main rivals forwards but not one of them gets vilified like the scruffy beard muslim foreigner.
{Ed025's Note - love it JH, that did make me LOL mate...quality..
03 Nov 2020 18:35:42
Has anyone else notice how Rashford is holding his head anytime he is tackled knowing play will be stopped. That needs to be nipped at the bud and quickly.
03 Nov 2020 18:25:35
Forwards seem to get all the stick for going down easy but it annoys me just as much when a defender is under pressure and goes down at the slightest touch. Worst part is the commentators call it clever play by relieving the pressure on his team. I miss the days when a player would jump up with his leg hanging off because he didn’t want the opposition to know he was hurt. Nowadays they roll around like they’ve been hit with a lump hammer. Embarrassing if you ask me.
{Ed025's Note - your right scoot..
03 Nov 2020 19:34:36
There were two other dives in the spurs game, one by son one by kane, that weren't given as penalties or dives but we're truly embarrassing, and not a word of it in the media.
03 Nov 2020 19:54:25
Scoot
you bring back memories of Stevie Highway at his best, pop straight up chewing on the gum as if he had just pulled his boots on. When men were real men :)
03 Nov 2020 20:01:25
I don't think it's English pundits giving a Muslim Egyptian a hard time because of his nationality/ religion. More a case of English players getting the benefit of the doubt. Fine margin between the too but it is a distinction.
03 Nov 2020 20:21:08
I didn't think I could be less impressed with Crooks (or the BBC generally for that matter. Guy Mowbray being careful last week when talking about Rashford to not to offend the sensibilities of people who want children to go hungry) but he outdid himself with his Team of the Week column this year.
Selected Henderson purely to soapbox about Salah. Pitiful, pitiful journalism.