My love of football began after watching Arsenal win Division 1 with that Michael Thomas goal and then following England in the 1990 world cup. In the 1990?s I used to really enjoy watching tough tackling physical games and the attitude of players and managers was ?if you get hurt don?t let your opponent know? and if a player lost the ball in a challenge they were told to ?get straight back up and win the ball back?. I get really frustrated when I see players making a meal of challenges or diving to the floor clutching their faces because a player?s hand ?almost? touched the end of their nose. I get even more frustrated when I see a player from my team lose the ball and then dive on the floor asking for a free kick only for the opposition to be on the counter attack. As a youngster my hero was Tony Adams. I can?t help wondering what he would make of the likes of Reyes/Pires in the last few years and more recently Eboue and Lehman?s antics. If Adams was still captain of Arsenal I believe that a quiet word in training would make Eboue a much better defender. I wrote an article after the league game when Arsenal lost to Bolton in November criticising Lehman, Eboue and Ljungberg for diving. Who are the worst offenders in your team? Which Premiership players are most guilty of play acting? What could be done to eradicate this sort of behaviour?
Ronaldo is a diver...as is Robben,Henry,Pires. The list could go on and on. I want diving to be stopped but it aint going to happen.
