4 Feb 2013

'I was conned' - Poll claims Sturridge tried to trick Man City referee. Fair...?

Former referee Graham Poll has criticised Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge for his alleged dive against Manchester City during yesterday's 2-2 draw at the Etihad stadium.

Sturridge received a yellow card for simulation, but after the game, the striker denied that he dived, arguing that 'lost his footing'. Poll took a different view, and argued that Sturridge tried to con the referee. He observed:

"In the second half, the impressive Sturridge then chose to dive to try and win a penalty for his side.

"Watching live I was conned and called it as a penalty.

"Thankfully Taylor was not fooled and Sturridge accepted the yellow card with an apologetic hand wave. Clearly the yellow card was not a sufficient deterrent as the reward significantly outweighs the risk of being caught".


Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers also denied Sturridge dived, but he would say that, wouldn't he? The Reds boss said:

"There is contact in it. I think he just falls over. He knows he's not going to get a penalty, the ball's going out. It's unfortunate. We've been here before with this kind of stuff. It's not something we like or advocate but I don't think he was diving to get a penalty - the ball had gone and he was never going to retrieve it."

Sturridge explained the incident in his post-match interview:

"It wasn’t that I actually dived. I lost my footing, and I apologized to Joleon, and told him ‘look, I didn’t dive’. I didn’t dive. I’m not a player that dives, and I didn’t dive here".

I can't find a decent video/gif of the incident or I'd post it, but having seen the incident from the reverse angle, there was definitely contact, so in my view, it wasn't a dive. Sturridge probably went down too easily though, which is basically just as bad, so he'll have to watch that in future. Once and you get the benefit of the doubt; more than once, and (IMO) it becomes cheating.

Poll did, however, defended Liverpool's right to play on after Edin Dzeko went down injured:

"Liverpool did absolutely the right thing in playing on and eventually scoring through Daniel Sturridge and anyone who talks about their actions being unsporting are ill-informed"



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27 comments:

  1. err, he had his left foot clipped and wasn't able to correct it in time to take the next step, this is why he went down. What's Poll on about, does he think it ok to knock a player off the ball in the area 

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  2. The referee certainly thought it was ok to go through the back of a player and let play continue. He could only count to nine as well. Very strange.

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  3. as Fergie would say, 'there was contact'.

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  4. ....or there was intent to dive

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  5. There was contact to be fair. but not a penalty. defo does not warrant a yellow though.

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  6. There was contact. Fact. He then fell over. Fact. To book him for diving - ludicrous and an indication of the inconsistent approach referees now adopt. To say there was intent to dive is ridiculous in the extreme. You have no idea so just focus on the facts. He was clipped lost his footing and went down. To say it wasn't a dive but "he went down too easily though which is basically just as bad" is crass in the extreme. So diving is equivalent to being fouled but in your opinion "going down too easily". Sorry I hadn't realised that being fouled was a matter of degree - some players may be technically fouled but stay on their feet, others may take advantage of the foul, others may not have the technical capability to stay up. Any judgement on this has to be subjective.

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  7. For me its a non starter, and the sign of how over the top we are going with things these days. Have these refs, and media people ever played a game in their life? There was contact, and if your running, and you get even a small clip, it often take you down, not always straight away. That`s not just relating to this case, but in general. The problem is slow-mo replays. They take out the speed, by there very nature, which for me means, you lose a big part of what happened. If there had been zero contact, then of course, book them. In fact send them off. But if there is contact, what are players supposed to do? defy the laws of gravitiy, and magically not be affected and stay on there feet, dispite the flow of there body, meaning everything is forcing them to the ground?

    It really does make me wonder, how bad this will all get. I`m all for kicking out diving, but not for going over the top, to the point it completely discredits the whole thing. 

    I agree with Poll on the second issue, not cause I`m a Liverpool fan, but above diving, my biggest grudge with football right now, is players faking injury, to get a ball put out of play, when they either lose it, or see the other team attacking. That don`t matter if its a Liverpool player or someone else doing it, whoever does it should be sent off IMO. It`s worse than diving for me, as not only are you cheating, but you are running the risk, or future players who actually are injured not getting the ball put out for them, as after a while it will become a case of the boy who cried wolf. You are also wasting the time of fans who payed good money to watch a game of football, not sit watching nothing, if the ball has been put out of play.

    This seems to be happening a lot more this season. In one game (not involving Liverpool) the other week, I rather sadly, added up 9mins of time wasted from players acting injured in just the second half, from the ball being put out of play, medics on, then off, then the player jumping up fresh as you like and carrying on. There was only 3mins of stoppage time. It`s also worth nothing the team doing this were winning, and did win the game. Thats 6mins of a game the fans never saw, and the other team never got.

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  8. Refs seem to be able to work out E = Mc2, in a spilt second, how he could be sure that Sturridge was not touched was clearly impossible, which was proven.

     How the ref booked him is also a cheek, if the ref felt that he went down to easy, then we are going into a whole new realm... the ref would have to be able to work out speed, contact, velocity and would have to hve the most perfect angle in which to see the incident.

     I say the ref is the one who should be getting punished for his miss calculation which he was doing in his head at the time, the ref is the one who should be coming out and apologising for (HIS) mistake.

    Why would a footballer get kicked in the penalty area and then apolgise for going down, that's a crazy mentality!!!

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  9. These types of refs need exposure to further there carreers, more sensible and respectable decisions WILL help them get that champions league final match, if that is what they really want.

    Yep ur right, killing the game!!!

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  10. Fergie also accused Ashley Williams of attempted murder of RVP

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  11. It was a dive. It happens. Move on.

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  12. Poll is vile end of!!!

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  13. Any issues relating to Liverpool, Poll would be out with his loud speaker. Don't hear much of him if it concerns manure though.

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  14. The way I see it there was contact that affected his balance. Maybe not enough to go down but enough to impede a goal scoring opportunity. Trying to make sure you get a penalty for a foul isn't as bad as diving where no foul has been committed. If referees get better at spotting fouls and don't require a falling player to demonstrate it then they'll be no need for players to do this. Otherwise defenders get to tug and push players instead of playing the ball and strikers are punished. This definitely wasn't a dive in the Luis Suarez vs Stoke definition. If was a player fouled in the box enough to affect his progress just not enough to send him to the ground. But fouled all the same.

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  15.  im with you zanatos no one likes cheating but these issues are getting completely out of perspective next they will be introducing polygraphs and psych tests to see if players are telling the truth....players have always tried to kid refs in my day it was called playing cute or having an old head .......there are far more worse things going on in football than this .....lets start with fans getting stabbed in bars abroad or players spit roasting young girls .what happens on the pitch pales into significance compared to these events....its funny ultra right wing fans in Italy and eastern Europe can get away acting like the klu klux klan ..yet stuuridge is getting vilified for losing his footing...but that the world today in general its moral compass is completely out

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  16. Absolutely correct!!

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  17. Did he go down easily? Yes. Was there contact? Yes. Would we have got a pen did he go down one pace earlier? Probably. At least no-one would claim he dived. Poll writes for the Daily Mail. They need such kind of allegations. It's not really a newspaper, just some vehicle to transport cheap entertainment, or rather time-killing.

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  18. I accuse fergie of insulting the sanity and intelligence of people. In past times he would have been put to death for agitation.

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  19. It wouldn't be that bad if refs hadn't played football themselves, if they at least knew some basics about physics.

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  20. You bias arrogant and stupid tool, How can you claim he didn't dive but admit he went down too easily.

    It must be true that all you male Liverpool fans are stupid and lacking education, I mean you all make the most stupid claims all the time (even your ex players are at it too.

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  21. it was an exaggerated dive and warrented a yellow, scousers are taking over the rags at diving masters!!!!

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  22. another reason on why we should sign him

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  23. lacking education is a fan of another team going onto a liverpool fc website.... why would you bother... i dont go on any other teams websites just for a kick and abuse people... but your probably used to that yourself arnt you!

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  24. LFC fans...Probably the best fans in the world...!!!

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  25. like most those breed of men who wear the black, they all stick together right or wrong, not one of them can hardly go a whole game without making a mistake. and when they do, who cares, the fa dont, the press love it if its against one there darling clubs or make nothing of it if its one of the less favoured clubs. it stinks.
    wise man said..........they know the rules but they dont know the game, how true.
    no wonder why players dive, they are incompetent and deserve little respect how they act and cock up so badly.
    RANT OVER..........
    it was a pen all day long, sturridge didnt help himself simulating the foul, but its a foul anywhere else on the pitch and the ref has the balls to give those.

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  26. it was a foul though then?? anywhere else on the pitch its a foul.
    clueless comment. must be a manc 

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  27. i wouldnt worry about anyone who sits around trolling liverpool sites.

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