Cristiano Ronaldo’s diving is an issue which I have a mixed approach to. Whilst I can’t abide by cheating and trying to con the referee, until there’s video technology, maybe you do need to do all you can to get the decisions, because you often won’t get them when you deserve them.
Ronaldo is kicked from pillar to post in every match he plays in, defenders having no other option if they want to stop him at times. However, particularly when playing in the Premiership, these fouls are waved on. Can we begrudge Ronaldo for diving to win a free kick, in a match where he’s been fouled five times or more yet the referee has given nothing in his favour?
As I say, I don’t have a conclusive opinion on it yet. I wish Ronaldo didn’t dive, but I also wish referees protected him better.
Former Chelsea boss, Jose Mourinho, has spoken out about diving in the Premiership, admitting that his former player, Didier Drogba, does dive. He also looks to United, Arsenal and Liverpool for the other culprits in the league.
“I am no longer Chelsea coach, and I do not have to defend them any more, but I think it is correct if I say Drogba is a diver,” said Mourinho. “Drogba, Ronaldo, Torres and Van Persie are the divers. Who dives more? Who has won more penalties in recent years? But English football is the one that criticises the divers the most.”
Man Utd News 24/7
Every single side has at least one diver, it is now part and parcel of football unfortunatly, Gerrard is one of the biggest divers in the game, but never gets mentioned, I wonder why.
Ronaldo has got a lot better in my opinion at staying on his feet. He’s learning “the English way”. Drogba never will in my opinion. Torres is learning as well, and like Ronaldo, get’s kicked all over the pitch.
I think (as Mourinho said in the article), if you get kicked when you are in the box, you go down. There’s no point staying on your feet when there has been a foul. That to me is still diving, but probably the acceptable side of diving. Diving without any contact is what most English fans despise, and Drogba is the king of that.
It’s a tough call though, between a defender making contact and a player going down, and an attacker making sure there’s contact to kid the referee.
I think we should have cup in “honour” of those that like to dive. It could be called the Klinsman Cup after Jurgen who was a well know diver. But it should actually be called the Francis Lee cup! After all he was probably the best one for conning refs during his tenure as a Man City forward. In fact I recommend Ronaldo should look at some old footage of Lee and Klinsman to see hows its done properly!:-)
scenario: 0-0 in the CL final and the team you suuport gets a penalty in the dying minutes of the game as a result of a blatant dive by your player
how would you as a fan react?
would you cheer and scream your heart out at the fact that you have the chance to win the game or…
would you boo your team and try and tell the player taking the penalty to miss the shot for fairness sake, if he did not listne and still went ahead and scored the penalty would you as a fan refuse to celebrate the goal or even the lifting of the trophy…
everyone critisices the divers but we still take pleasure in celebrating a goal if its our team that gets the advantage.
untill we the fans boo that sort of behaviour from our own players to let them know that we dont like it then no manager or player or association will do anything about it.
and are we the fans really going to do that i dont think so….
ps moaninio is a prize cnut whos views are irrelevant as hes a total hypocrite.
Tis amazing how Maureen claims its the “English football” yet the four players he calls out are not English. Diving is a truly Spanish art, and it has seeped out from that rancid hole across the rest of Europe over the last 20 years. I agree that there is a differentiation between having to make it blinking obvious to our stupid refs that you’re getting battered, and that is the acceptable face of it, the one where the TV pundit would claim “He could have stayed on his feet if he wanted to”, and then we do have the Drogba ballet class/acting school special, which screams, I don’t have the skill to get this on my own merit.
mourinho should keep his mouth shut and sort out his own side before commenting on other’s, i do agree with you on ronaldo being kicked off the park,so why should we blame him?
and how can he name van persie?,he’s always up for the challenge and our diver which i can admit is emmanuel eboue,eboue now know’s from the stick he get’s from his own fans not to do it anymore.
jose just gets on my nerves,he just loves to talk shyte and i for one cant be bothered to hear his rubbish anymore.
mourinho had the worst diver in the league under drogbreath so he can f*** off.
I agree Mourinho just loves the sound of his own voice and commenting on other teams players is uncalled for considering he has Mancini, Ibrahimovic, Crespo and Quaresma in his current squad who all go down like Spurs!
It is sad to see so many players diving in our game and it has also spread to our own players. Beckham was brilliant at sticking his arse in the air and lifting both feet off the ground at the slightest hint of contact long before Ronaldo or Drogba played in the Prem.
Gerrard also has had his moments and I’m glad to see he looks to have cleaned up his act, although he still has his moments.
The big difference is going down under minimal contact, effectively bending the rules if you like, and blatantly diving.
Sadly Drogba and Ronaldo have gained a reputation for the latter through seasons of dying swan acts and once it is there the reutation it is very hard to shake off.
You say Ronaldo could possibly justify his actions because the refs don;t protect him, many would say the refs don;t protect him because he spent years trying to con them and the water is so muddy now nobody knows the difference.
Ronaldo does get kicked all over the shop so it’s hard to blame him for trying to make the most of it the odd time. No one likes it, but it can’t be easy being constantly targeted.
Torres also gets kicked from pillar to post in every game and has yet to win a penalty for Liverpool – despite quite a few clear-cut shouts.
Van Persie? Hardly springs to mind as a diver – sounds like Mourinho was trying to make up the numbers there. Eboue is the only Gooner who springs to mind as a diver – and Wenger himself has criticised him for it.
Drogba however, is by far the biggest culprit. He’s a very big bloke yet he collapses like a tissue with little or no contact. This example typifies the man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgbU2zejzgk&feature=related
The man has no shame whatsoever.
Are you suggesting that ronaldo dives just to make the point to the ref that hes not getting any protection or do you think he is diving to gain a penalty by cheating. Lots of names are listed here but i dont see any mention of van nistelrooy, a sly devious player who was basically a coward.
Van Nistelrooy is definitely a diver, he was at it again last night in the CL.
In fairness to Ronaldo, Drogba etc we have to remember it has always been in the culture of European players to cheat by diving.
Back in the 70′s and 80′s when there was far less transferring of players across international borders it was well known British teams had to ‘cope’ with the gamesmanship side of playing continental teams.
The sad thing is that far from these players being encouraged to adapt to our style of play the British players have taken to using the tactic to gain an advantage.
There are many many players who cheat by diving in our league, it’s just that Ronaldo and Drogba are the most blatant.
Ruud was a diver but certainly not a coward.
Hmmm, I half expected the video you linked to to be this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YR_pvybezo
I do remember his Porto side in the UEFA cup final against Celtic in 03, went down like a bunch of hookers if I remember.
I couldn’t care less about diving and i think that was the point mourinho was trying to make- the english game cares too much. fans are hyporcitical their too quick to slaughter ronaldo/ drogba etc then turn a blind eye when their own players do it. It’s rare you watch a match now, no matter what level and players dive if they think they can gain an advantage. It’s part of our game now, in the end it’s down to the referee. It’s just annoying that the media highlight the same few players yet ignore the rest because their small time and people don’t want to read about them
As a totally 100% biased United fan, I must admit that I dont think of diving when thinking of Van Persie, or Torres for that matter.
And Ronaldo sickens me when he falls over at the slightest touch as he losses possession, see in the first half against WestBrom for example, that dutch LB who owned him all match, lightly put his hand on ronaldo’s chest as he dispossessed him so Ronaldo throws his hands up and jumps to the ground, foul given….
But to be honest I’m not sure why we are even justifying that stupid twat with comments on this. For fucks sake he had a team with Drogba, Robben and Joe Cole…
Stephen: Why on earth mention Ibrahimovic?
He’s one player that always try to keep on his feet at all times.
I have no problem with his statements, our Ronaldo is a diver. However i do have a problem with him catching the Blatter disease in which every bad thing only goes on in the English game, he should have mentioned Spanish players too and players from other leagues, its almost as if he’s saying the 4 biggest divers are from England which is false cus there are far worse divers in other leagues than the four players he mentioned.
Erik are you saying Ibrahimovic doesn’t dive, I hope not!
We deserve a lot more penalties than we get.