Barkley rejects 'diver' label

, 9 December, 54comments  |  Jump to most recent

Ross Barkley says that he fears being unfairly labelled as a "diver" following the incident involving Kevin Nolan in the win over West Ham and his subsequent yellow card against Manchester City.

The 21 year-old was criticised by Nolan for going to ground without being touched in the match at Goodison Park on 22nd November but defended by manager Roberto Martinez who cited the rough treatment by opposition players as a reason for his player's action.

Barkley was booked by referee Andre Marriner at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, however, despite being fouled by Frank Lampard. Though it was one of a number of contentious decisions made by the official (who has been demoted to League One duty this weekend, presumbaly as a result of his performance), the forward is concerned he will earn a reputation for trying to deceive referees.

“All the talk about what happened against West Ham, which I didn't even intend on doing, is having an effect," Barkley said in the Liverpool Echo.

“I was expecting contact. You could see that from my reaction in that game — I got straight back up and tried to get on the ball but the ref gave the free kick.

"Against City I was expecting the contact from Frank Lampard and there was contact. I thought it was a free-kick to us. I was disappointed the referee gave that as a foul and I got a yellow card.

“I was 100% certain it should have been a free-kick. The ref made his decision and said I dived but I don't think that's right.

“I don't ever intend to dive. I'm a scouser — we don't do things like that. It's frustrating.”

Martinez sees the extra attention Barkley is receiving as a natural consequence of his rising profile and says that while the Wavertree-born starlet must adapt, it should also be taken into account when assessing his form this season.

“It's important to remember that Ross is not an unknown any more," the Catalan told The Guardian. "When opponents play against him they are making sure it is difficult for him. He has to deal with that but the good thing is that means other players will have the space. You get the benefit as a team.

“Sometimes when you are assessing an individual's form you need to consider what the opposition are doing to try to stop them.”

Quotes sourced from Liverpool Echo



Reader Comments (54)

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Christopher Kelly
1 Posted 09/12/2014 at 20:50:58
You joking? He gets stick for one clear dive when there are players who dive on average 3 times a game??
Until referees change their ways, I say dive all you want in the box. The game has changed. Change with it. I’m not proud of my stance and know its the wrong thing, but players get penalties from it, why should’t we? I’d rather win for once than be the nice guy all the time.
I’ll put on my metal cap :))
Christopher Kelly
2 Posted 09/12/2014 at 21:06:57
...And just as I wrote that, the Basel player takes a "dive" and Markovic is off... Barely touched the Swiss player behind him, he goes down, Markovic goes off and Liverpool go out. I think my point may have just gotten made.
Dave Lynch
3 Posted 09/12/2014 at 21:09:15
It's called intent Chris and im laughing my bollocks off.

Stu Smith
4 Posted 09/12/2014 at 21:24:06
Can we get that yellow card turned over?
Christopher Kelly
5 Posted 09/12/2014 at 21:36:07
Fantastic "dive" and performance by Basel!! To celebrate we should take Salah on loan!
Jamie Barlow
6 Posted 09/12/2014 at 21:37:05
What's all this "expecting contact" bollocks? If you're fouled, go down. Not if you feel the other person slightly touch you. It's a disgrace how footballers these days are ruining the game. You read it in the papers and hear the commentators justifying it all the time now. Diving (that's what it is if you throw yourself on the floor) has just become accepted now. How have we let this become part of football?
Nick Entwistle
7 Posted 09/12/2014 at 21:48:39
Bollocks it is Jamie. Hopefully it won't fuck around any more.
Christopher Kelly
8 Posted 09/12/2014 at 21:55:10
It’s not us, it’s the rest of the world. Simple. I think it’s disgusting and it actually is disgusting, but until then it’s the way the game is played. Liverpool came within a whisker of winning the title because of it. Deal with it.
Ray Robinson
9 Posted 09/12/2014 at 22:03:13
Well, just to stir it up a little bit, I think Barkley does go to ground a tad too easily. Saw it last year too. The problem is, he's not very good at making it look authentic.
Barry Thompson
10 Posted 09/12/2014 at 22:24:26
I see that Marriner is reffing a League 1 game this weekend, the useless twat has found his level and needs to be kept there.
Phil Gardner
11 Posted 09/12/2014 at 22:56:26
Honesty has got this club absolutely nowhere in the past while the Tiprats across the park and at other clubs (Arsenal anyone?) have prospered on the back of conning the piss poor refs we've got in this league. As for the pond-life scally pleb Nolan, after what that coward did to Anichebe is it any wonder Everton players dive out of the way of his ugly fat-arsed lunges.....if you can't beat them I say...
Brian Waring
12 Posted 09/12/2014 at 22:58:58
He's reffing Fleetwood v Sheff utd Barry.

What makes me laugh is the way the media are having a go at Barkley but, the same media always turn a blind eye to Gerrard's diving and cheating. I remember Gerrard diving to win a pen and the commentator saying it was clever play by Gerrard because he won a pen for his team.

Patrick Murphy
13 Posted 09/12/2014 at 23:10:34
Brian - It's purely and simply that the media are pandering to the same audience if it's a player from a popular club they will justify it and make excuses for it because that's what the 'audience' wants to hear - if it's a player from a perceived lesser club then they tell the same audience what it wants to hear.

The game of football is merely a reflection of society at large and cheating and conning and getting away with it for some parts of society is excused and for another part a mistake or lack of judgement has the media calling for their head on a plate.

Sean Kelly
14 Posted 09/12/2014 at 23:13:13
I don't like divers but fuck the game has changed . Look at the amount of penalties the shite got last season late on games when the rat went down. They now have Bart fucking Simpson doing it two or three times in every game and no one is slagging him off. All Barkley has to do is perfect his dive and he will get them.
Fuck it everyone is doing it at the moment and any kind of win will do me.
Tony J Williams
15 Posted 09/12/2014 at 23:26:58
I see Stirling dived to get old crease head's equaliser. Fuck all will be said about that though.
Paul Kelly
16 Posted 10/12/2014 at 00:01:49
Why canÂ’t El Bob come out and turn the attention on that shower across the park or any other team for that matter when this shit gets brought up?

Just pick on Sterling or Creasehead, point out their dives and tell the media to report on that, and once they do, they can have answer out of him.

Phil Smith
17 Posted 10/12/2014 at 01:02:33
I had a feeling the Shite would get knocked down to the Europa. I'd love a Merseyside final!!!
Gavin Ramejkis
18 Posted 10/12/2014 at 01:33:30
Phil, I'd rather see Satan FC come to within another gnat's tadger of progressing past another shite team and get knocked out and watch with envy as we sail onto the final, we have a terrible history no matter how shite they are of bottling it against them, not a chance I want to hear those fuckers gloating.

Regards the simulation this evening in their game, Markovic looked at the Swiss player twice before throwing his hand back at him thats clear intent, don't really give a shit whether or not it was a full connect or a tap the dirty get tried to backhand him. Creasehead in the dying minutes desperate to make amends for his usual shite game dived in the box, a usual spread his legs and flail like a dying penguin but the ref got it spot on that the keeper got the ball first and waved him away, Janelle Monae dived to get him his token free kick but happily all it did was wind those Norwegian tourist up even more as they got so close to have it flushed away toilet style.

David Ellis
19 Posted 10/12/2014 at 02:23:08

Falling down when expecting contact....er mate that's a dive. What's all this I'm a scouser nonsense?

Sorry I can't ever condone it. Would rather lose or more likely do something else with my time.

Patrick Murphy
20 Posted 10/12/2014 at 03:05:07
Unfortunately, David, the Corinthian spirit died a very long time ago, if it ever existed in the first place in the professional game. I don't want to see Everton players 'cheating' to gain an unfair advantage but I also don't want Everton to lose matches and have players unfairly booked due to cheats or inadequate officials.
Jamie Barlow
21 Posted 10/12/2014 at 08:04:50
Stirling didn't "dive" last night. The commentator said he "won" a free kick.

"Won" a free kick? What the fuck does that mean?

I also don't think the Basel lad dived last night. I bet that finger in the eye hurt like fuck.

Andrew Ellams
22 Posted 10/12/2014 at 08:32:13
Thing is Barkley doesnÂ’t do all the theatrics like rolling about and screaming, he just gets up and keeps going after the ball. He is a clumsy arse, but by todayÂ’s standards now way a cheat.

It does my head that the Nolan incident is the one the press keep going back to when the stand-out incident in that game was Tompkins blatant attempt to get Miralles sent off with the sort of behaviour that does deserve a 10-match ban.

Tony J Williams
23 Posted 10/12/2014 at 09:16:36
He didn't dive, he "won" a red card.
Terence Tipler
24 Posted 10/12/2014 at 10:09:07
I thought it strange when Ross dived in the West Ham game. Out of character for him, watched it back several times. First thing I noticed he was in his own half of the pitch, progressing forward with the ball, not in or around the penalty box, where the usual serial divers go down, à la Suarez & Sterling.

The second thing I noticed, is that he was up and running after the ball, and not rolling around squealing like a pig, as per formentioned, even before the referee had a chance to blow his whistle.

The third, and most important thing I noticed was the player who was coming in to tackle him that day, was no other than gobshite Nolan – the same player who almost finished the career former Everton youngster, namely Victor Anichebe.

That tackle on Anichebe by Nolan put Victor out of the game for almost a year. Victor successfully sued and received, a 6-figure out-of-court settlement for that tackle. Victor stating at the time that he thought Nolan had broken his leg, and he might not be able to play again. Bearing in mind that Ross came through the ranks with Victor, himself also having already suffered a broken leg, it is no wonder he dived.

Geoff Evans
25 Posted 10/12/2014 at 11:04:30
Part of the modern game. Unfortunate but true.
Jim Bennings
26 Posted 10/12/2014 at 11:09:16
A few facts on the two topics going on here.,

Barkley is not a diver but he DID dive against West Ham and I agree he tends to hit the deck a bit too much anticipating contact at times, much like Pienaar does or used to, call it winning fouls or whatever.

I do think Barkley also made himself look a bit silly with the "I'm a scouser, scouser's don't do stuff like that"... Errrr... Ross, I recall Steven Gerrard, Francis Jeffers and Robbie Fowler all trying to con fouls by cheekily diving over the years.

As for Markociv???

It's a simple decision, the question I would ask of him is why did he swing his hand into the face of the Basel player anyway? Markovic had already made his intentions obvious by TWICE looking at the lad and then attempts to take his eye out, as somebody says, if you get a finger nail in the eye especially when running at pace it's going to fucking hurt, anybody wanna try that?

No sympathy at all for Markovic.

Al Reddish
27 Posted 10/12/2014 at 11:21:27
I remember Rooney diving for a penalty at OT and Andy Gray creaming saying although there was no contact at all, the intent was there to tackle and Rooney had to dive to get away from the tackle, therefore it's a penalty. It's all a load of shit if you ask me. You're either fouled or not fouled.
Andrew Ellams
28 Posted 10/12/2014 at 11:30:02
It all went out of control for me when they started issuing red cards to players who won the ball, but did so a bit heavy handedly.
Scot Blackburn
29 Posted 10/12/2014 at 11:48:29
I totally agree with Terence Tipler – spot on with yer write up! (Comment 24) here is the link from the dirty Kopite twat taking Victor out! http://youtu.be/7NQCCcEr-gY

Take a look for yourself an don't tell me this was not in back of Ross's mind.

Tony J Williams
30 Posted 10/12/2014 at 12:08:41
The fact about Barkley is that he IS a diver. I said it last season, I will say it this season too.

Obviously he's spending too much time with those odious bellends from across the park on England duty,

All this "I'm a scouser" rubbish is pathetic too. Biggest diver and conman for the Shite after Ratboy was Creasehead.

John Daley
31 Posted 10/12/2014 at 13:29:30
If it's a choice between diving out the way of an incoming boot and looking a bit of a dick, or spending the next six months striking up a bromance with Darren Gibson in the treatment room, then I'd much prefer Ross carry on propelling himself through the air like John Wayne Bobbit's freshly pruned bell end.

In this instance, I feel you've got to take into account the injury problems this particular player has faced in the past. Don't forget, this is a lad who found his fledgling career under serious threat after taking a triple leg break at the tender age of 16. That injury arose from a random collision with his own player.

Similar story again this summer when he suffered a bad injury in pre-season (one that supposedly could have been season ending but for a stroke of luck) after Gareth Barry clattered into him during what should have been another innocuous challenge. He was also out for quite a while last season with a broken toe.

When you're travelling with the ball at speed like Barkley often is, even the slightest contact can knock you off balance or, potentially, leave you facing months stuck at home sat in front of the box with your leg suspended in the air, wallowing in self-pity and feeling as low as humanly possible because Honey pissing Boo Boo is on again and the bastard remote lies agonisingly out of arms reach.

Better you keep ducking and diving, Ross son, because some of the alternatives aren't worth the risk.

Tony J Williams
32 Posted 10/12/2014 at 13:30:11
Ahhhh, the old Gareth Bale defence against diving John.

Thought it was bullshit then, think it's bullshit now.

It isn't just the thug Nolan incident is it?

He has been diving for some time now and it's after the most innocuous of challenges too.

Don't get me wrong, if he gets a penalty for us, then great, but he's doing it in the pointless areas of the pitch.

John Daley
33 Posted 10/12/2014 at 13:50:49
The whole 'he's just diving for no reason, in areas where there's absolutely no reward whatsoever to be reaped from it' accusation doesn't have a bracing whiff of bovine turd about it then, Tony?
Tony J Williams
34 Posted 10/12/2014 at 14:11:55
I am not defending him, John, quite the opposite, but if we get something from it then I'm not going to be upset about it.
John Daley
35 Posted 10/12/2014 at 15:00:51
I know you're not defending him Tony, but I was.
Nick Entwistle
36 Posted 10/12/2014 at 15:26:41
Why would diving be the best way to get out of the way of a (none existent) tackle? Perhaps jumping over it and playing on would be better all round.

You can either talk bollocks or do something like this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wVho3I0NtU

Rahul Sreekumar
37 Posted 10/12/2014 at 16:29:27
Dive or no dive – why is the media consistently building this out of proportion?

Where is the media outrage over the kung-fu kicks during the Man City match? Who is paying them and to what end?

Jamie Barlow
38 Posted 10/12/2014 at 15:19:59
Do the same bullshit excuses go for Sterling too? Travelling at speed, slightest nudge, falls over. We can't slate one for doing it and say it's okay for our Ross to do it. I'd ban anyone who does it if it was up to me.

Cringeworthy some of the posts on here.

Patrick Murphy
39 Posted 10/12/2014 at 20:33:12
Fair enough, Jamie, but how can two Man City players get away with yellow cards for assault and the FA have no right of redress because the Referee acted on what he saw, likewise Everton can't appeal the yellow card that Ross unfairly got in the same match?

I agree that the diving is like the holding of players in the area getting out of control and it needs stamping down on – but, as has been stated, why all this fuss over one incident which Ross was at fault and another where the Referee got it wrong but somehow Ross is cast in the same bracket as Sterling, Sturridge, Gerrard, Ratboy et al?

There's a big difference between avoiding a tackle and deliberately rolling over and appealing for something to be given. That's why I admired Milner on Saturday, he wasn't attempting to gain an unfair advantage like some or most of them do.

Jamie Barlow
40 Posted 10/12/2014 at 20:56:45
I don't know Patrick. You can't review a yellow card one way or the other. It's how it is. It's wrong but what can we do about it. Seems a bit strange that we can't even though the referee has been punished.

Ross has made a rod for his own back. If he didn't blatantly "dive" against West Ham he wouldn't have got booked against Man City.

Jim Bennings
41 Posted 10/12/2014 at 21:09:39
Rahul,

Because Manchester City have now become a media darling in this country since they became a moneybags rich boy, the media in this country dare criticize the big boys. (Big boys in their eyes, I can remember the day's City were going away to Preston for a league match with the likes of Danny Tiatto and Shaun Goater.)

That answers your question, basically Marriner was such a biased homer on Saturday it was almost funny, you can't upset a bandwagon and sadly Manchester City has become just that.

John Daley
42 Posted 10/12/2014 at 22:49:01
"Do the same bullshit excuses go for Sterling too"

In the exact same circumstances, then....yeah.

What exactly is the problem with a player anticipating and attempting to avoid a challenge (even if said challenge doesn't materialise) because he thinks he's going to get done, and then jumping straight back up to carry on playing without waiting to see if the referee whistles? Does the whiff of pussying out not sit right or something?

If Barkley dived to avoid a potential whack, due to paranoia about picking up another injury like he's had in the past, then that's a totally different 'diving' scenario to someone simply slinging themselves to the ground, staying down and seeking to buy a decision. He wasn't exactly writhing around in actors workshop style agony whilst waving his hands about appealing for the free kick was he?

Why would he even bother trying to win a cheap free kick in a totally non-threatening position in his own half, when he was striding forward in full flow and fully capable of outstripping Nolan for pace anyway?

If it wasn't because he felt the twat was about to take a bite at him, then what was the 'real' reason and what did he hope to gain? Why didn't he stay down for more than 2 seconds? Is he so stupid he instantly forget what he was supposed to be doing?

If it was so-called 'simulation' would he not at least have tried to make it look even the slightest bit convincing, instead of coming across like that cockeyed kid from the 'special' class who used to careen down the school corridors, clutching the straps of his Super Mario Bros backpack, whilst the top half of his body slowly got closer and closer to the ground, like a more mobile but meffier version of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal sporting a spittle blasted school blazer that no fucker else had been seen in since the seventies?

Anyway, what's with all the 'it's embarrassing' cries, because they ring kind of hollow? Is it only embarrassing because he was so poor at it? Because he got pulled up for it? Would it be less embarrassing if he was better at it? Is it because Everton players are 'different' and don't do such things? I find that belief more 'cringeworthy' by far than any of the comments on here. Guess I've been watching a load of different guys buying free kicks in blue shirts over recent years. Arteta, Johnson, Yakubu, Saha, Osman, Pienaar, Baines and more, all managed to master it to such an extent that you actually failed to notice?

If an Everton player went down and won a penalty with a blatant dive in the dying seconds of this seasons Europa League final, you would be absolutely disgusted rather than dancing your arse off if the penalty was converted? Your Captain America code of conduct would see you refuse to acknowledge the first cup win for 20 years and instead start campaigning to cross it out the history books I suppose? Would it bollocks.

At least Tony J was all too ready to admit it. If Everton had benefited from Barkley's actions/antics in any real and tangible way there wouldn't be half the people on here so ready to condemn him for it.

James Marshall
43 Posted 10/12/2014 at 23:54:31
There is a distinction to be made between diving and waiting for contact before going down. These are two very different things – Barkley explains that the Lampard 'foul' was simply him drawing the foul, which all players do and is part & parcel, an accepted aspect of the modern game.

Falling over without any contact at all is a very different kettle of fish, and one he needs to learn is not acceptable – ie, the Nolan incident.

All players draw fouls but waiting for contact, and this to my mind, is a completely normal part of the game today. It's a skill in itself.

Falling over when nobody touches you at all just makes you look like a cheating piece of shit.

Mike Childs
44 Posted 11/12/2014 at 00:18:12
How can they stamp it out of the game when Fifa's own poster boy, CR7, is the biggest sinner out there?
Ray Robinson
45 Posted 11/12/2014 at 09:00:10
Barkley's problem is that when he runs at speed, he quite often loses complete control of the ball when an opponent closes him down. It's in these situations that he tries to recover the situation by going down. It was evident last season too - the West Ham game merely highlighted it. As for the Lampard foul on Saturday, yes there was contact but, in my opinion, Barkley was already going to ground as it happened.

If he's going to persist with this behaviour, at least make it look realistic. At the moment, he is embarrassing himself.

Dave Lynch
46 Posted 11/12/2014 at 09:37:29
He reminds me of Jimmy Husband when running with the ball.

His top half is a yard in front of his legs and arse and he struggles to stay balanced.

Ray Roche
47 Posted 11/12/2014 at 11:01:09
Talking bout yellow cards...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30339715

and also

The 1986 African Cup of Nations, hosted by Egypt, shows how politics can help a nation win a championship title. Following a series of offense during the semi-finals match againts Morocco, Taher Abouzeid, one of Egypt's football superstars, accumulated yellow cards to merit suspension. This means that he will miss the finals against Cameroon.

With pressure from the highest levels of the Egyptian government, the yellow card was rescinded. Abouzeid played in the finals and Egypt won against Cameroon 4 – 3.

James Lauwervine
48 Posted 11/12/2014 at 13:29:21
If someone goes to punch you in the face but stops an inch from your nose, would you flinch and move your head back? That's basically Bobby M's defence of Barkley and it's a plausible one, particularly where a thug like Nolan is bearing down on you. Having said that there were a couple of cringy moments last season where I thought 'Please don't do that Ross lad'.
And as for this idea that he can't run with the ball and keep his balance/control, have people forgotten that goal vs Newcastle last season?
Tony J Williams
49 Posted 11/12/2014 at 16:17:59
"That's basically Bobby M's defence of Barkley and it's a plausible one"

No it's not, he's not getting punched in the face. Look at the images of the dive in Google images under Barkley dive V Nolan. The classic Creasehead splayed legs and arms going to the side.

Simply put the Nolan one is indefensible.

The Lampard one is a different kettle of fish, as there was contact, still a dive but there was contact.

Martha Richardson
50 Posted 11/12/2014 at 19:30:46
Please stop it, Ross is one of our own, there are too many people on this site and in the media willing to criticise him since the West Ham game (and in my humble opinion, he didnÂ’t dive). However, would the people in this forum taking the high moral ground be happy had he been seriously injured given that Nolan has form for inflicting serious injury)?

Unfortunately, I think the amount of vocal criticism from his own supporters may well have an impact on him in future games. Do you think referees live in an alternative universe completely unaffected by media?

Consider this, when Ross is next fouled in the penalty box and gets booked for Â’divingÂ’ because of all this internally generated frenzy, please donÂ’t come on here and complain, remember labels stick.

James Lauwervine
51 Posted 12/12/2014 at 09:35:55
What, is he supposed to go down like a corpse? It's a plausible defence and the whole thing has been ridiculously blown out of proportion.
Tony J Williams
52 Posted 12/12/2014 at 10:21:56
What he's supposed to do is either carry on running because no tackle occurred or jump the tackle.

Not throw himself to the floor like a tit after no contact.

Jim Lloyd
53 Posted 12/12/2014 at 11:30:57
I agree that over last season and this, he's gone down too easily; and in a lot of those incidents, he hadn't got us any advantage by doing so.

It does look like a bad habit he's picked up and, like others, I've often wished he'd knock it off. However, didn't the lad have a double fracture that kept him out for well over a year? I think that if I had some horrible bastard bearing down on me and he's not averse to crippling players, I might well dive out the fucking way as well! If I remember right, he got up right away and looked at carrying on with his attack.

To me, he's not diving to win a free kick in a dangerous area like that sewer rat Suarez did, like the prince of the living dead has always done (and got Tony Hibbert sent off in the process in one of our derbies), like Sterling does and others in the school for cheats are taught.

In my view, his attempts are too obvious to be try-ons and I wish/hope that he can find another way of dealing with against twats who woulndn't think twice about crippling the lad.

Christopher Kelly
54 Posted 13/12/2014 at 17:09:44
Chelsea just dove 3 times against Hull (they got 2 yellows for it)
Adam Johnson just dove and won a penalty and won Sunderland a point.

At this point, it’s just too engrained. I’ve heard of young kids diving in their youth leagues? Want to talk about disappointing.


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