Sadio Mane comments on 'diving'

christinaa

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Is this true what he supposedly said? :

''If it could be a penalty for sure i will 'dive' again.
If the 'dive' will give me a penalty then i will do it! Why not?
But what Jurgen said is correct. I do not dive.''
 

Adisa

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Don't see what is wrong. Do what you have to do.
 

GenZRed

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It's literally cheating though?
If not cheating, certainly not sportsmanlike. Some people clearly don't care about that anymore.

I don't know what is worse, the divers or the people who try justifying such things.
 

Amar__

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Don't see what is wrong. Do what you have to do.
He says he will dive again, and will dive always to get a penalty. And he finishes it with "I do not dive".
 

GenZRed

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So is shirt tugging.
There is a clear difference in which is worse between shirt-tugging and diving. That is like comparing diving to walking to take a corner in order to run the clock down. None are sporting, but one is much worse.
 

VP89

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There is a clear difference in which is worse between shirt-tugging and diving. That is like comparing diving to walking to take a corner in order to run the clock down. None are sporting, but one is much worse.
Ok? The one that buys a penalty is worse though.
Both can be penalty calls. Diving to earn a penalty offsets the countless shirt tugging in the box which would deserve a penalty.

At the end of the day, refs have to be smarter. They have VAR to help them now so it doesn't bother me. Both should be yellows when identified.
 

Sied

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Refs encourage diving by only giving fouls when players go to ground.
 

Spoony

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Sadly it's become acceptable. Clearly cheating but heh everyone does it so it's okay. Or something.
 

christinaa

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If this is what he really said then i'll be clear with my opinion - he's a cheat for sure and an idiot for saying what he said.
No if's and buts.
 

VeevaVee

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Both can be penalty calls. Diving to earn a penalty offsets the countless shirt tugging in the box which would deserve a penalty.

At the end of the day, refs have to be smarter. They have VAR to help them now so it doesn't bother me. Both should be yellows when identified.
Liverpool alone must be offsetting everyone's shirt pulling.
 

Cloud7

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This is the referee’s fault. It starts and ends with them. They never give a penalty unless the player goes to ground, which results in a huge amount of missed calls which should be penalties never being given (Our own Smalling for example, could have given away a penalty per game on corners alone over the years). There’s no excuse for referees to not do their job properly now that they have VAR. The only way diving will stop is if calls are made without the player having to look like they’re dead for the referee to think ‘Okay maybe this was a foul’.

For what it’s worth, ‘tactical fouls’ are cheating as well, and I find those much more reprehensible. “Taking one for the team” :rolleyes:
 

2mufc0

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I'll take the pen for a dive
 

UpWithRivers

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At least he is honest. Those who say they don't dive are liers. Well maybe there is one or two honest footballer out there. Until the football changes as a whole then diving will continue.
 

Adisa

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It's literally cheating though?
We deceive ourselves if we think cheating hasn't been part of the game since its inception. I want my players doing whatever they have to do to win.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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I think he’s meaning if there is contact and he feels it he will go down, either that or he has a few marbles loose. PL fans seems much more pissed off with diving than other leagues in Europe for some reason, the Italian and Spanish leagues just seem to get on with it.
 

Camilo

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Sounds like he's saying that if he's touched, he'll go down and try to get a penalty. Fair enough.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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We deceive ourselves if we think cheating hasn't been part of the game since its inception. I want my players doing whatever they have to do to win.
Every team does it too, yet everyone jumps on other teams players for it, it’s all very odd.
 

duffer

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I just read one of the articles quoting him and he was joking. Put your pitch forks down. Context is king!

"But Mane laughed off the comments when pressed ahead of Sunday's clash, insisting he will not change the way he plays.

“If it could be a penalty for sure I will ‘dive’ again,” he joked. “If the dive will give me a penalty then I will do it to get it back. Why not?"

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/sadio-mane-hits-back-pep-20827907
 

horsechoker

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What about if instead of giving players a pen for a dive, we give them a free parker pen and over 50's insurance.
 

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Why wouldn't you dive? The worst you can get is a booking, the best you can get is a penalty and almost a guaranteed goal (unless you're United). The risk: reward is heavily biased on the diver's side.

It's not punished harshly enough but the lines are so grey it's difficult to officiate objectively. Hence why players like Mane will get away with it 9 times out of 10.
 

VorZakone

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We deceive ourselves if we think cheating hasn't been part of the game since its inception. I want my players doing whatever they have to do to win.
Agreed. History cares about winners, not losers.
 

cyberman

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Why wouldn't you dive? The worst you can get is a booking, the best you can get is a penalty and almost a guaranteed goal (unless you're United). The risk: reward is heavily biased on the diver's side.

It's not punished harshly enough but the lines are so grey it's difficult to officiate objectively. Hence why players like Mane will get away with it 9 times out of 10.
Worst is you get nothing and will need to be hacked down to get something
 

GenZRed

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Why wouldn't you dive? The worst you can get is a booking, the best you can get is a penalty and almost a guaranteed goal (unless you're United). The risk: reward is heavily biased on the diver's side.

It's not punished harshly enough but the lines are so grey it's difficult to officiate objectively. Hence why players like Mane will get away with it 9 times out of 10.
If I was managing a team, I'd like them to be confident enough in their own ability to win out of merit rather than resorting to child's play.

Judging by some of the comments on this thread, that seems too much to ask for some. I'm frankly disgusted at some of the responses on here.
 

troylocker

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Diving and faking injuries makes my stomach turn. It's disgraceful and embarrassing to watch. Cannot defend it!

Here is a couple of the worst:
- Rivaldo went from being a superstar to being a total clown in my eyes after WC 2002
- Marcelo lost all my respect after the Wolfsburg match i the CL15-16

- The same goes for the divers (unfortunately we have a couple of them in our squad as well, but it has to stop)
 

ivaldo

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There is a clear difference in which is worse between shirt-tugging and diving. That is like comparing diving to walking to take a corner in order to run the clock down. None are sporting, but one is much worse.
No it isn’t. In both instances the player knowingly breaks the rules to gain an advantage. It’s just most ‘traditional’ football fans have been conditioned to believe diving is some heinous act.

You take Son’s tackle on Gomes for example. There was no real effort to win the ball (nor any genuine effort to seriously injure Gomes) and the tackle was made purely to gain an advantage by the breaking the rules. If he hadn’t hurt Gomes that challenge would have been lauded as ‘street-wise,’ for stopping a potentially dangerous attack before it could really begin. He would’ve ‘taken one for the team.’ If Son had later dived to gain an advantage he would have been heavily criticised for it, yet only one of those acts is ever really going to hurt another player.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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If I was managing a team, I'd like them to be confident enough in their own ability to win out of merit rather than resorting to child's play.

Judging by some of the comments on this thread, that seems too much to ask for some. I'm frankly disgusted at some of the responses on here.
That's all well and good but if the other team wins by some sort of deceit or foul play your honourable take on the game won't mean shit I am afraid.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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How about if you have been caught out blatantly diving in the box, I mean no contact and a spinning dive and rolling on the ground, its an automatic penalty to the opposition? Obviously tongue in cheek but the fan reaction would be priceless.
 

NotThatSoph

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It's literally cheating though?
So was Ole's tackle against Newcastle's Rob Lee through on goal. Or, any number of the hundreds of "tactical" fouls made every single PL round. United vs Reyes was blatant, and violent.

Football is rife with cheating, always has been. However, while kicking people around with no intention of making a fair challenge is generally tolerated, or even celebrated, faking getting kicked is seen as a huge crime.

The issue with diving can't be that it's cheating, because not all cheating is treated equally. It also can't be because of the consequences, because a cynical foul can gain you just a big advantage as a dive can. In my opinion it's mostly just culture, especially UK culture. Violence is macho, it's what hard men do. Diving is soft.
 

SirAF

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Don't see what is wrong. Do what you have to do.

We deceive ourselves if we think cheating hasn't been part of the game since its inception. I want my players doing whatever they have to do to win.
Completely agree. The only issue, though, is if a player gets a reputation for diving and is thus less likely to get a penalty (legit or not) later.