Liverpool Chelsea Diving – Why punish Rob Styles?
August 20, 2007 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
On Sunday Liverpool were denied victory when Rob Styles controversially awarded a penalty to Chelsea after Steve Finnan appeared to bring down Malouda in the penalty area.
To those watching at home it was clear there was no contact fron Finnan and that Malouda went down far too easily. So if Mr Styles was wrong to award the penalty does that mean Malouda has deliberately deceived him? If so then why punish Rob Styles with a one match ban, why not punish the individual who cheated to get the penalty?
Why not? Because the FA are not allowed to use video evidence to change a decision. They can only use it to rule on an incident that was missed by the referee, so even if the referee saw it incorrectly, the decision made on the pitch will stand.
The fact that the FA can then use video evidence to effectively punish the referee and not the offender who tricked him, makes a mockery of the game and of the effort of hard working referees, like Styles, who are punished for being conned by experts.
Diving is ruining the game, we know who the offenders are but do nothing unless the referee, who is denied the benefit of TV replays, sees it happening at the time. Its about time the FA and the Premier League got together to sort this out and if they can use video evidence to punish the referee, they should also be allowed to use it to punish the offender, and preferably with a three match ban if they really want to stamp it out.
If you were actually watching you’d know it wasn’t a dive, it was just a crap decision. Muppet.
There was clearly contact. The question was whether Malouda fouled Finnan by jumping in to him. How on earth does this constitute diving?
Torres on the overhand….
..erm the game was on sunday but apart from that you make some valid points
Well, there was contact, and Malouda did not try to con the ref. How many Chelsea players appealed for a penalty? Not one! And why pick on Malouda? Arbeloa conned the ref to get Essien booked, Torres tried countless time to get players booked as did ‘not good enough for England’ Carragher. What about ‘Sir’ Stevie Me against Sheffield United last season? Or Aston Villa last weekend?
Jeez, have you even seen the game?… Penalty decision was a nonsense, but there was no diving by Malouda. Nobody was even asking for that bloody penalty…
good point steve clarke – its not like chelsea players have ever dived, ever in the history of ever at all….is it ????
You commence your “article” – “on Saturday Liverpool were denied victory….”
Really? So Chelsea, had the penalty not been given, were a cast iron cert not to have pulled a goal back? As you are able to predict football scores, I can only imagine you must be exceptionally rich, so why bother to write this kind of drivel?.
Good points well made Steve Clark but dont upset the liverpudlians …they are very sensitive bunch! Never let truth get in that way of a good scouse bleat!!!
The game was played on Sunday. Get over it
it was the one of the most redicolous decision
i have ever seen. it’s a pitty to loose points in this way when LVP where doing great in the pitch.RAFA
Free eye tests for any Chavski fan from Spectacles R Us,
please get over Gerrard not signing for you although looking at Fat Frank i’d be upset too.Moanrino needs glasses he didnt see the dive nor did the Ref so thats 11 men 1 ref 1 manager = 1pen ( i,m glad Fatty scored i never saw him for 90 odd mins ) so a free eytest for me as well Happy Days
What are you chatting on about ’steve clarke’. The only reason there was contact was because malouda jumped into finnan. And you must as deluded as your joke of a manager, Terry is the worst player in the league for confrontiong the ref trying to get players booked. ‘not good enough for england?’ Hahahah who gives a f*ck about england. So now carra cant moan about a decision which quite clearly wasnt a pen? And gerrard never appealed for a pen against sheff utd, the pen was given. You and your fans are a total joke, very nice with the hillsborough chants yesterday, bet that made your ‘engerlund’ fans feel hard. Tossers.
For once you have a point, Juggs.
However, as Steve Clarke points out it is not relevant in this instance.
Malouda wasn’t deceiving Styles only Styles was deceiving himself.
Weird but it would seem so. Of course, many have suggested roubles in brown envelopes if you catch my drift but perhaps a few ex-players who know what goes on wouldn’t be such bad refs.
Maybe the PL chairmen should demand the fast-tracking of ex-players, so that refereeing too can be of the highest professional level. I’m fed up with numpties with lots of certificates ruining the game.
it was one of the most redicolus desicions i v ever seen. it’s a pitty to lose points in this way when
Unfortunately you picked a very bad way to make a very good point! The penalty was just a bad decision, Malouda didn’t cheat or dive, no one appealed for a penalty. It did happen at other times in the game, however, and players consistently try to con refs (Gerrard the week before – will the Press ever open their eyes and dare to criticise his repeated diving?). It is indeed the cheating players who should be punished, we can’t lay all the blame on refs. The Scottish FA tried to do something about it and FIFA (or was it UEFA?) continued in their usual vein, making a mockery of the game they are supposed to govern, by stopping it. Only when players are punished (and by suspension, not fiscal penalties which are meaningless to multi millionaire footballers) will this stop!
Steve Clark, against Sheffield, Gerrard never asked for a penalty, the ref gave it when Gerrard mishit his shot as a result of having to radically adjust his body to avoid a certain clang on the leg. Watch it again instead of chanting innacurate mantra’s. Aston Villa last week, the Villa defender clearly obstructed Gerrards run hence the ref gave a foul. I suggest reading the rule book or at the very least, watch the incidents you are using as an excuse to divert attention away from Chelsea’s obvious poor behaviour.
Rushback, against Liverpool, not one Chelsea player asked for the penalty, either. The Gerrard incident at Sheffield wasn’t a penalty but the ref gave it. I believe the ref’s name was Rob Styles. The Villa player won the ball and then stood his ground – this is not a foul.
What shame Sack wrote a sensible and balanced article and then immediately Steve Clarke ruins it with a response that has nothing to do with the issues raised and is more about points scoring than discussion
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I feel sack’s comments are good and logical. If the FA can take retrospective action over a bad foul when someone get’s hurt, why can’t they do it when a referee makes an obviously ludicrous decision (the only people who think the penalty was anything less than that are a small number of Chelsea fans – most actually agreed whilst understandably gratefully accepting it as most fans would) as in this case?
Remember, I am not talking about making a change that would affect the game or the result. The result at 90 minutes is the result that MUST stand, always. But if a referee makes a complete and utter hash of things then he MUST be made answerable for the integrity of the game.
If Mt Stiles were to publically say ‘Sorry guys, I’ve had a look at the replay and realise I got it wrong, sorry.’ then that would be fair enough. If however he simply can’t see that he got it wrong, badly so, then that would be worrying and I would be concerned that he is still refereeing games if he can’t see that this decision is wrong with the rules of football.
Referees have got to be completely accountable or else the integirty of the game will be undermined.
steve I suggest you watch the incident again malouda clearly appeals for a pen, lets be honest now he’s got a reputation for diving – remember the world cup ??? – he’s obviously picked up some bad habits from drogba and robben in his short time at chelsea
Chelsea fans are true scum
Hmmm…It was never a penalty on Sunday and I also believe that Stevie should never have had penalty against Villa, having said I can see how the Villa penalty was given but I think that stevie played for it. Malouda on the other hand impeded Finnan at best and there was no way that it should have been given.
As for all the comments about Liverpool losing two points…..of course they did as Chelsea were ineffectual in te game although they were better in the second half than the first!
The ref was wrong but Malouda is a cheater. I m very happy that LFC didn’t sign him this summer. He just wanted the russian money : we don’t need this kind of player…
i’m not a chelsea fan, but i am tired by liverpools’ moaning. this is classic liverpool – always innocent when it comes to diving, or any other misdemeanour and always hard done by.
fact is, the ref got it very wrong, but it’s no way conclusive that malouda dived, looked to me like he tried to dummy the ball. unlike the various and regular instances of liverpool players conning the ref.
that dosesn’t mean liverpool weren’t hard done by – they definitely were – but that’s why instead of feeling sympathy for liverpool i think a lot of non-partisan fans think it was just a case of what goes around comes around.
cue: sanctimonious whinge.
escebe, whatever happend yesterday pales in comparison to you cheating whinging diving halfwits up the east lancs road. Manu, the original “oh woe is us, everybody hates us” I think we can all agree, you are the worst of the worst now totter off.
That felt good
@Rod Hull – I will try and get another look but when I saw it ‘live’ (internet stream) and again on MOTD2, I didn’t see any appeals. I don’t particularly remember him from the World Cup, either.
@ Rob Barron – A well balanced article would have cited any number of ref chasing, conning, etc. incidents from EITHER side; this was one-way traffic, therefore hardly well balanced.
@Rafa – Bite me. But not before you’ve shaved off that ridiculous porn-star abberation around your mouth.
@Peter Gill – Yes, Chelsea players have dived before and I dare say they will in the future. I don’t think they are alone in this, though. Do you?
@everyone – It’s almost unanimous that it wasn’t a penalty and that Styles was a crap ref who made many blunders in each direction. The game’s played, the points awarded. I’m moving on, now. Allez Toulouse.
how can we take your views seriously, you can’t even the day right that the match took place.
I am a LFC fan and yes I am very annoyed the penalty was given but it wasn’t a dive, just a very very poor decision
no scouser has the right to mention bungs for points…or have you forgotten the well known gambler that is bruce grobelaar. it is not illegal to DUMMY the ball in footbal it is actually pretty clever and you all forgot that drogba had controlled the ball and was completely on his own 1-1 i think what ever had happened.
Ken Wilkins-are you mad? I don’t care that Gerrard didn’t join us- we’ve won two premiership titles. You won a european cup, beating us by scoring ‘that goal’. You can’t deny it didn’t go in. Hawkeye, which will be used in the future, proved that. Torres is a diver, Malouda was clearly not diving-he was dummying it and was knocked slightly in the air by Finnan who hardly moved, which is why no-one appealed. Anyway, Drogba had at least 5 yards of space to score.
I forgot about Gerrard aswell, who makes Robben look stable.
I was at the match yesterday and from the Kop end wondered what was going on when the dubious penalty was awarded.
Its time for “Video Ref” as used in rugby league… then everyone would be happy
Harry, buying the league again this season are you, hollow victories thanks to Roman’s massive spending, never ever will you be classed in the real elite.
oh Well
watch the game next time you fucking moron
I guess the fact that you have spent more than us, have a foreign owner doesn’t make any of your wins hollow. Oh wait! You’ve never won the premiership. So spend all you like you pathetic hypocrite, you’ve won 1 in 7 matches in the league against us. You will never be better than us, and we get the most CL revenue per season, so that makes us the biggest in Europe, plus our very decent record in all competitions, Top level seeds in Europe and we have the fastest growing fanbase. That makes us in the elite. Getting the most amount of points ever in one season in the premiership makes us in the all time elite, as does our home win record.
Harry, fuck off.
Harry, you talk alot about how you would like to join Liverpool in the elite all time champ. But one question for you now (if not too complex for you) is How much are ye going to spend to become Liverpool?
The ref made a mistake. He’s human after all……
What about Essien receiving two yellow cards???
The fact is Chelski players were hounding the ref all game.
The second fact is that Malouda is a known diver (WC final 2006!).
The third fact is there was no contact until Malouda jumped INTO Finnan. For Malouda to say he was clipped is a LIE – but then you expect nothing else from Chelski. Average team with good work ethic.
Just admit it, we’re quite a lot better than you.
‘course you are Harry. 400 million pounds in five years, says a lot about how much better and for your information, we’ve won it 18 times, just because it’s got a new sponser, doesn’t make it a different competition.
I like you though Harry, you typify the modern day chelsea fan, you’re perfect ammunition.
Hairy.. haha.. u wanna talk about statistics between us? Then u got it…
League Championship – 18 / 3 (haha..wait another 15 years)
Champions League – 5 / ? (hihi.. more money needed?)
UEFA Cup – 3 / 2 (fuhh… nearly!)
F.A Cup – 7 / 3
League Cup – 7 / 3
Charity Shield – 15 / 3 (huh???)
European Super Cup – 3 / 1
Fuhh.. nothing compares with u chelski… Liverpool stat only nearly matched by Man U.
ok..ok.. looked unfair.. i gave u a winning stat …
Diving/acting hero – 0 / 3 drogba, robben & new comer mouluda
UEFA Cup – 3 / 2 (fuhh… nearly!)
Correction! Chelsea never won the UEFA Cup, they won the cup winners cup, twice (last time they won they beat Stuttgart in the final, Ruud Gullit was manager – always rated that man as a manager, should be the England manager)
So, to be more precise, Chelsea won a now defunt cup, twice.
Next post should be about England. Sven wasn’t that bad of a manager, wait he was a complete idiot just last year. Hargreaves was his secret love child, no one could understand why he kept playing ‘headless chicken’ Hargreaves. Now he his the best thing since slice bread, holding midfield so Gerard can prance around like a looovely ballet dancer.
But take it from me – Steve McLaren is a moron. That fact will never change, we will never be proven wrong on that one – trust me. Is he out of his depth or what. He literally took the England post on the back of two freaky UEFA cup ties, then lead his team to a 4-0 trumping.
p.s. Sven was and will always be a club manager. He has no international pedigree.
But stats say, that he is one of the most successful England managers, when it comes to competitive football. He lead England to three quarter-finals, losing out on two in penalties. Go back a little and England were prone to miss some tournaments (1974, 1978, 1994)
But what does that say about England?
You punish both of them because of what u said and Rob Styles is a moron
I think with all these club rivalaries we are getting away from the real issue here. Sure Mr Stiles made a bad decision, and for sure his ability to referee the very top level games (i.e. Top 4 clubs) should be investigated for a little while. Because while Liverpool fans will say that he was being bullied by the Chelsea players all game, which may well be true, I’m pretty damn sure there was enough confrontation between Liverpool players and the referee as well to assume that the Liverpool boys were giving him quite a beating as well. The fact is that he let the pressure of both teams get to him, which is something that can be potentially disasterous when they are refereeing these top level games, which can be seen by his decision. Who knows what was going through his head when he made the decision? but he made it, and he should cop the blame of it.
Its the referees responsibility to remain unaffected by the attitudes of the players, to remain imparial and follow completely the rules of game that are set down. He couldnt do that in an important game for two top running teams, and thus he should be played down for a while. I dont think that giving him a suspension is really very helpful, because being a referee myself, getting a week off really isnt going to do anything to ones ability to referee.
Diving is another issue, but this is about the terrific refereeing performances we have seen recently? (Graeme Poll anyone? how many chances did he get to make fantastic calls?).