Gerrard is a good diver
There are some players who habitually dive and then get called on it - Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, to name a few.
There are others who are saints but resort to diving at their most desperate hour - Thierry Henry and David Beckham.
And then there are those who spit on their status as heroes and respected sportsmen and resort to diving every now and then. These are heroes who unite opposing fans, who are self-righteous to a fault and preach about fair play and honesty.
These are people like Steven Gerrard.
There’s nothing wrong with diving - well, nothing wrong with it if you choose to treat all divers equally. But when refs are denied the benefit of replays, when players are protected thanks to an absence of post-match reviews, and when reputations reign over reality, players like Gerrard get away with it, while players like Drogba get unnecessary stick (even if they admit that they dive).
Liverpool’s first goal against Sheffield United was won by a blatant dive - Gerrard sees the ref, knows the defender will stop him, then chooses to fall over him, bringing the Sheff Utd defender to the floor in the process. The ref is right in front of them but gives a penalty because he saw earlier that the defender was holding Gerrard. He didnt see Gerrard’s dive, so he went with reputation and gave a penalty.
The second penalty is more debatable - Gerrard is pulled back but if you see how Gerrard’s leg suddenly collapses from under him you know (based on how you’ve seen him win penalties in the past) that Gerrard wasn’t pulled back, he had just chosen to fall down and give his team a 2-0 advantage.
Bravo Gerrard - a dive, an opportunistic penalty (which shouldn’t have been given) and that’s the game wrapped up, ladies and gentlemen.
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What a load of old tosh.
First one debatable - but why did the defender keep hold of Gerrard - why, why, why? He knew the ref was right by him!
Second one, definite penalty. end of discussion. there was contact between the arms of both players and the legs.
Sorry mate, some are given some are not and since ‘pool haven’t had a penalty for ages then these things even out over a season.
What a load of crap, if you hold someone back in the area it’s a penalty end of story, what makes it worse is the ref even warned the muppet not to do it again. The second one wasn’t even debatable it was a pen pure and simple.
Sorry, but that’s just not true. He has dived, or exaggerated anyway, in the past (Istanbul for example) and went down easily for the first penalty, but it was still a foul. Admittedly, defenders get away with that all the time from set pieces, but the defender had been specifically warned by Bennett. The second penalty was clear - the defender actually had BOTH hands on Gerrard’s shoulders!
First one-Dive
Second One-I’d be dissapointed if my team hadn’t got it given.
Gerrard is a diver, no Liverpool fan would ever admit it but every fan of every other team knows he is.
He’s a great footballer (most of the time), but a bit of a bellend.
Man U rubbish again from Ahmed Bilal.
I’ve never seen Gerrard feign injury in my life. He might make the most of tackles and go down easy on occasions but he doesn’t arch his back and throw his arms in the air and then hold his right leg in agony while rolling around for 3 minutes like the despicable Ronaldo.
Comparing him to Drogba and Robben is unfair. They are cheats. He makes the most of incidents involving hands-on defenders. Kozluk was attempting to get an advantage by blocking Gerrard so Gerrard gained an advantage by highlighting that to the referee. He didn’t fall over having had no contact at all which is what Drogba / Robben / Ronaldo et al all do.
You are just a jealous, prawn sandwich eating Man U fan. Judge your own club first.
This story is rubbish.
Players who possess physical strength are often denied free kicks and penalties simply because they can withstand dodgy challenges on some occasions, that doesn’t mean they should have to every time.
A foul is a foul and if a strong player has to go to ground now and again to show the foul for what it was I don’t think that merits a dive.
It’s players like Ronaldo and Giardino who should be banned for habitually falling over when noone has even touched them.
The FA should bring in an extra official who can sit and watch monitors and make sure things are above board if it’s that big of a deal.
Mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prcxxr4bJ3E
-and-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CllT_iZEblE
Gerrard’s a cheat, and you’re a douche.
lets not forget the sheffield united dive earlier this season too which earned liverpool a point. gerrard has mastered the art of diving but because of his reputation everyone turns a blind eye to it. what annoys me is how he expresses his distaste of divers,yet he commits and benifits from them on a regular basis. he is a hypocrit and although i cant blame liverpool fans for wanting to defend their captain, sometimes the truth hurts.
Gerrard isn’t a good diver, the fact that decisions go his way isn’t because of his good ability in diving but rather because he is 1)English (so can’t possibly be a ‘diver’) 2)plays for liverpool who always get penalties somehow in any situation 3)Because the english media loves him no matter how dirty and disgraceful a player is and because the media is a big fan of liverpool and their nation’s vice-captain. How good would it look if you treat your nation’s football idol/captain as you treat c ronaldo/diuof when they dive? the worst thing about it all is the man’s shameless hypocracy when it comes to diving, an absolute disgrace both to england and more importantly to the beautiful game’s spirit and sportsmanship.
The fella who wrote the article is a bulb.
It was the defenders stupidity that led to the penalty not diving. The ref saw him hold the Liverpool player, briefly let go then grab him again as the corner kick was taken. If a defender fouls an attacker in the penatly area it’s a pen. The fact that it was Gerrard was irrelavant though if it had been Ronaldo the sponge man would have had to come on.
An editor on another football website said that there’s a difference between trying to fool your opponent and trying to fool the referee. The latter is cheating.
Those who do it lose my respect.
I think what Drogba was trying to say, albeit clumsily, was that when you are fouled (especially minor contact) you have to decide whether you should try to stay on your feet and play advantage, or whether you should go down and take the free kick (and make sure the ref sees it). Minor contact can be enough to ruin your run, and defenders know that. And with the dead ball specialists around these days, going down is the best option when you’re close to goal.
sigh… Just face it… The world is jealous of Liverpool’s accomplishments. The media does not love Liverpool. The fans love Liverpool.
Everyone is against Liverpool being successful.
When LFC was winning the 5th “Big Ears”, no one complained about Rafa’s rotation policy. But when the team becomes inconsistent, everyone is looking for ways to discredit Rafa. The media never mentioned about LFC’s injury crisis & gave credit to Rafa’s tactical masterstroke. BUT when Chelski started to be inconsistent, everyone says “OH! This is because of injury crisis”
C’mon… Face it! 18 league titles, 5 European Champions and loads more of cups & titles…
The best in England… The best in the world.
Man U was fantasizing bout being the best in the 90’s, then they realize they only had 15 but only 2 European Champions Title? Haha! What a Joke. Neville said he’d like to retire after beating Liverpool’s number of league titles. Wow! I didnt know he plan to play beyond his age of 100 years! Dream on… There are at least 3 more European cups to win. Liverpool might just win the sixth this year…
Stop marginalizing Liverpool’s accomplishments. Try as you may, the figures never lie.
YNWA…
Sorry Mr Bilal I hate to be the one to inform you, but in this beautiful game we call football, you are NOT allowed to stop your opponent with your arms. Especially not in the 18 area, and especially not infront of the ref. This isn’t bloody rugby! The muppet doesn’t even look at the corner flag and the flight of the ball, all he was concerned about was stopping Gerrard by any means. Gerrard knew this, and as soon as he felt the arms around him again, he went down. Other people’s bad defending is NOT Steven Gerrard’s to correct. The thing with that type of incident is that although you are being blatantly fouled, refs don’t give it unless you fall… That’s exactly why Gerrad went down.
don’t be bias. no matter what, liverpool still win the game. don’t highlight other’s action just express ur own unhappiness
I just wonder how many of these bilious posts are by Man Utd and Chelsea fans!?
Face facts, it wasn’t a dive, the player was impeded, no matter how slightly. End of argument.
If they were your best examples then Kris I feel totally vindicated. Thank you for proving my point. I didn’t see any stretchers or ambulances there.
Are you a man u fan too by any chance?
i love capt. fantastic miself, but he deff dove there. y, to get robbie some goooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaals
Wat a load of rubbish! gerrard is a world class player and is amazing.
I think stevie G is a wonderful, committed and a skillful player.
But it is right that sometimes, usually in desperate times, he does give in very easily to get a free kick or a penalty, which usually a strong player like him wont.
And mostly in these times he gets away with this because of his reputation amongst refs or fans.
Lol I hadnt seen this post before. A clear dive, if it was Ronaldo or Drogba who did it there would have been a media outcry. Come on Liverpool fans wake up.
I must be the only Liverpool fan to agree with this.. And hate Gerrard.. With a passion.
I hate the way everyone believes he carries the team. This is, I know, true, but I wish we didn’t have to. I’d prefer not to have him and we could try and mould the team into an Arsenal-esque team, a team who play nice football with no real stars. I know there’s Fabregas, Gallas, and co’, but if I’m being honest, non with the cilibre of Gerrard. They just get on with their football, and play it well.
I would love to see us sell him in the near future. Even if we can’t replace him straight away, I’d love to see the money go to good use, and not spending millions upon millions on a world class player, no matter how good they are..