‘ENGLISH PLAYERS HAVE BECOME THE DIVING MASTERS’
WENGER CALLS FOR ACTION AFTER POCHETTINO CLAIMS SIMULATION IS A ‘MINIMAL ISSUE’ IN GAME
ARSENE WENGER today claimed English players are now the “masters” of diving.
The Arsenal manager stopped short of naming specific players but his comments come just four days after Tottenham pair Harry Kane and Dele Alli were accused of simulation during Spurs’ 2-2 draw at Liverpool.
Alli was booked for simulation at Anfield — the third time he has been punished for such an offence during two-and-a-half years as a Premier League player — and Reds defender Virgil van Dijk suggested Kane had exaggerated contact to earn a penalty which he subsequently missed in a frantic finish to the match.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted Alli deserved his yellow card but says such issues are over-analysed, describing it as a “minimal issue”. However, in response, Wenger said: “I am convinced he wanted to say that tricking your opponent is to say that you have to be clever.
“How far was it an apology for diving? I’m not sure. I don’t think he would. In my personal case? No. We have to get the diving out of the game.
“I remember there were tremendous cases here when foreign players did it but the English players have learned very quickly and they might even be the masters now.”
Wenger was careful not to mention Alli or Kane but his words will place referee Anthony Taylor under further scrutiny ahead of Saturday’s derby between Tottenham at Arsenal at Wembley.
The Frenchman, who stated in November that Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling “dived well” during the Gunners’ 3-1 loss at Etihad Stadium, insisted he had sympathy with officials over the issue while defending the conduct of his own players.
“I don’t encourage them to dive at all,” he said. “But if you look at the situation, I think sometimes you do not want to provoke a dive as well.
“Sometimes you want your players to be intelligent, they have played a little bit with the rules, they make more of it on the penalty case. Every striker will do that. They extend a little bit the rules. Where is it and how far can you go? That is down to the referees and I think that sometimes, at normal speed, it is very difficult to determine.
“On that front, as much as I can be harsh with the referees, I am quite tolerant with them because it is very difficult at 100 per cent pace to distinguish whether it is a dive or not.
“Most of the time, when a player is going to the goalkeeper, they push the ball away from goal. I think they had a good rule in England when I arrived here. When the striker pushes the ball away from the goal, they didn’t give penalties because the only resource the striker has after is to look for a penalty.
“In many cases, it’s like that now. The guy goes and if the goalkeeper has their hands off, the striker leaves a leg as long as he can to make sure the goalkeeper touches him. But that’s not really a penalty.”