Win at all costs?

Discussion in 'General Football & Other Sport' started by Ekstranding, Apr 23, 2017.

  1. Ekstranding

    Ekstranding Academy Graduate

    Watching the Chelsea vs Spurs semi final, and Moses makes one of the most blatant dives you could ever see to win Chelsea a penalty. Fine, Son was stupid for diving in the way he did, but Moses jumped to the deck in an obvious attempt to con the ref and win a penalty after zero contact. He cheated.

    While a player doing this is wrong, what annoyed me the most was all of the pundits on BBC didn't mention it, they were so focused on Son lunging in and 'Yeah Moses goes down early, but he's well within his rights to do so'. Nobody was saying that a player blatantly cheating is bad, immoral, whatever, it's just 'part of the game'. A dive like that should be roundly condemned, the player called out and penalised. Moses should be made to be embarrassed, but instead he is being praised, the dive is justified and there is no incentive to not cheat in the future. How can we ever hope to stop things like this if a player is praised for cheating?

    The attitude of footballers has been 'win at all costs' for ages, and I think the game is poorer for it. Players should want to win by being the best team, not by cheating or bending the rules, whether that is diving, faking injury, whatever. I struggle to think of any other sport where cheating is so accepted, I think the players in most other sports would be demonized by pundits, fans and other players if they cheated to the extent that footballers are able to get away with.

    So how do we fix it? Do you agree that actually players should want to win at all costs, even if that means cheating? Would you accept a Watford player cheating to win, or should we as fans step up and criticise them for not playing in the spirit of the game?
     
  2. Halfwayline

    Halfwayline Reservist

    Nobody wants to see diving but, in the current game, it's part of the tactics. It's too hard to expect the referee to see in a flash of a second if there was contact or not so you either introduce video technology or the cheater is penalised (yellow/red) retrospectively
     
  3. Vicarage Road

    Vicarage Road Reservist

    Niang went down like a bag of sh it after the Hull lad tapped the top of his shin pad. Had Niang stayed on his feet, would Niasse been shown the red card?
     
  4. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    Totally agree with the OP. Cheating players has created a culture that means that referees have an impossible job.
     
  5. hornetgags

    hornetgags McMuff's lovechild

    Son started his slide early, once Moses got the ball past him, he made sure there was contact and went down...Lineker won most of his penalties like that, especially against Cameroon in Italia 90.

    Son gave the referee a decision to make.

    [YT]Fz3o6cnjy5k[/YT]
     
  6. Stevohorn

    Stevohorn Watching Grass Grow


    and that's with the hindsight of seeing it on tv, with replays.

    Who'd be a ref!
     
  7. KelsoOrn

    KelsoOrn Squad Player

    I entirely agree with the O.P. regarding cheating. But I'm not sure that Moses did cheat on this occasion. Son certainly impeded Moses' progress. Should it therefore be incumbent on Moses to leapfrog Son's rash challenge and lose momentum in his chase of the ball?
     
  8. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    My instinct would have been to avoid the contact and reach the ball instead. But then I only played in the Isthmian League.
     
  9. KelsoOrn

    KelsoOrn Squad Player

    My instincts too. But if things have changed a bit that doesn't necessarily imply cheating.
     
  10. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    It does in my opinion.
     
  11. Harrow Orn

    Harrow Orn Squad Player

    I thought this was going to be a post about our players not having a 'win at all costs' mentality, because, well, they don't.
     
  12. Cassetti's Beard

    Cassetti's Beard First Team

    Something needs to be done, I agree. Firstly I'd start with dissent and crowding the referee- instant yellow card, the only player who should be able to approach the referee should be the captains of each team. Post game, if a player has been deemed to have dived to gain a penalty or get a player booked/sent off, the bookings should be to be rescinded and the player that dived should be punished with a 1 match ban. During the match I think it's difficult to stamp out diving - however, for dangerous free kicks, penalties and last man challenges we could have a video referee that could replay the footage to ensure the correct decision is made.

    At the top level I can't see why these rules can't be implemented.
     
  13. leighton buzzard horn

    leighton buzzard horn Squad Player

    Ref's are getting worse and players are getting better at cheating, hence the gap widening and the game being in the worst state it has ever been in. Until there is some help from above with retrospective and severe bans it'll only get worse, but as with anything football related in this country it takes an age to reach a simple solution.

    Townsend conned Oliver the other week in the Palace/Arsenal game - and from the ref's angle you can't blame him for being conned. Give Townsend a five game ban. Next time he does it give him ten. It would soon stop if they are consistent. That said, they made a big deal about the grappling in the box clampdown at he start of the season, and that seemed to have faded out by the end of September time.
     
  14. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    There's a difference between skilfully enticing a defender to foul you, by whipping the ball away and causing them to lunge in and dragging your foot over an outstretched leg to throw yourself to the ground.

    All this "he's got a right to go down there" is bull.

    You are either fouled and brought down or you make yourself go down. The latter is cheating and however widespread it may be, remains as such.
     
  15. jw-

    jw- Reservist

    In a vacuum and with perfect refereeing I agree, but I think there are practical cases were it is valid. The main one I'm think is Walker on Sterling when Spurs were away to Man City. Sterling was fouled and didn't go down, and nothing was called.

    I basically view going down as a pseudo-appeal for a foul. I'm happy for players to appeal, but I think such cases should be reviewed post match and any occurrences of blatant gamesmanship should be heavily punished - with the hope that players only choose to go down when they are confident they were truly fouled.
     
  16. zztop

    zztop Eurovision Winner 2015

    I totally agree with you.
     

Share This Page