He took a dive, says angry Pardew

ALAN PARDEW accused Christian Benteke of diving after the Liverpool striker won and scored a last-gasp penalty winner at Selhurst Park. The Crystal Palace manager’s anger boiled over as his side slipped to an eighth Barclays Premier League defeat in a 12-game winless run. Pardew came close to walking out of a post-match television interview and slammed the decision that cost his side a valuable point in their fight against relegation. ‘If you’re the referee and see the centre half pulling out of the challenge, you don’t give the penalty, and I don’t think he did,’ Pardew said. ‘The linesman assumes that little touch is a penalty. ‘The player makes the most of it. If you think that touch affects the fall and the way he lands, then you really need to be consulted. That touch doesn’t warrant the dive and it’s the dive that makes the linesman’s mind up. ‘He made a big meal of it in my opinion. If it had been us we wouldn’t have got it.’ Pardew’s interview with Sky Sports saw him hit back at a reporter for questioning the performance of his substitutes moments after the manager had criticised his own decisions over mid-game replacements. He said: ‘Our subs were not very good, I point the finger at myself, we move on.’ Pardew was asked: ‘Why weren’t they very good?’ He responded: ‘Let’s not get into a debate with you trying to antagonise me. I’m angry because I’ve lost and I think the penalty is tough, that’s what I’m trying to say and I think you should accept that.’ He added: ‘We’ve had penalties all year with Wilfried Zaha and not got them and I’m frustrated as the referee wasn’t giving it. He knew the linesman thought it was contact before that. He didn’t think it was the knee, he thought it was contact before that. I know that and I think that’s, well, we’re talking about the penalty here, let’s talk about the game. This is a game where we should have come away with something.’ Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and Benteke were convinced the decision was correct. Benteke said: ‘I think he touched me, otherwise I wouldn’t go down. The referee’s given a penalty and so he thinks it’s the right decision.’ Klopp added: ‘You saw it? I’m sure. If you run and you get this touch, you fall down. Try it. Both things. With the knee and with the foot. In my opinion, there was more than enough of a touch.’