Saka (Arsenal)

FrankDrebin

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Odd decision considering the most blatant option was to just score.
 

FootballHQ

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I kind of think it wasn’t actually a dive, simply because it would be such a stupid decision with an open goal in front of you. I think he anticipated the contact, braced himself for it, and then it just didn’t come.
Neuer hardly moves towards him. Most keepers would just go all in so if they miss the ball it's an inevitable penalty with the resultant contact.

Neuer showed all his experience just standing his ground and Saka moves his leg towards him to get the contact.

At real speed that's a brilliant call by the ref as 99% of prem refs would just give that as a penalty and VAR wouldn't bother to overturn it.
 

Jev

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Neuer hardly moves towards him. Most keepers would just go all in so if they miss the ball it's an inevitable penalty with the resultant contact.

Neuer showed all his experience just standing his ground and Saka moves his leg towards him to get the contact.

At real speed that's a brilliant call by the ref as 99% of prem refs would just give that as a penalty and VAR wouldn't bother to overturn it.
To be clear, I wasn’t saying it was a penalty, it wasn’t.
 

iammemphis

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Ironically if he had hurdled the challenge and gone down he would have been booked for diving too, so the only way to get the penalty for being obstructed was to run into Neuers leg instead of raising his thigh a few inches...whilst moving at speed... I mean its all instinct stuff so i kinda feel for him. If he hurdles the challenge hes likely to be really off balance but regain it before trying to get a shot off, at which point there's three players in his way. The last option probably the only outcome of an actual goal if he manages to steer it through them.
 

erikcred

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I kind of think it wasn’t actually a dive, simply because it would be such a stupid decision with an open goal in front of you. I think he anticipated the contact, braced himself for it, and then it just didn’t come.
And when it didn't come, he created it. If that's not a dive then we need new nomenclature for "manufactured contact in an attempt to trick the ref into giving a pen".
 

KeanoMagicHat

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He decided he was going down before it happened. Elliott did the same last weekend. Unfortunately Wan Bissaka made it easier for Elliott than Neuer did for Saka.
 

rimaldo

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i’m ashamed to call myself an arsenal fan after that.
 

awop

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Odd decision considering the most blatant option was to just score.
There is Davies bombarding back and DeLigt standing right in front of him. I don't know why everyone thinks this was a tap-in :lol:
 

awop

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I don't think that's really the point.
It is the point when people say "why did he not just go around and shoot in an empty net"
 

GoonerBear

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Neuer hardly moves towards him. Most keepers would just go all in so if they miss the ball it's an inevitable penalty with the resultant contact.

Neuer showed all his experience just standing his ground and Saka moves his leg towards him to get the contact.

At real speed that's a brilliant call by the ref as 99% of prem refs would just give that as a penalty and VAR wouldn't bother to overturn it.
I think there’s a bit of both. Neuer takes a step towards him, Saka let’s his leg dangle.

https://x.com/arsenalbuzzcom/status/1777803818840805630?s=46
 

Marwood

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It is the point when people say "why did he not just go around and shoot in an empty net"
Well once he's rounded the keeper, there's you know, no goalkeeper in the net. So its a very good chance to score. As opposed to cheating.

And that cheating instead of having a very good opportunity to score could knock you out of the tournament.
 

mu4c_20le

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Neuer stops moving before the moment of contact. You arsenal fans need to stop watching it at 0.25x speed, he plants his foot afterwards.
 

awop

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Well once he's rounded the keeper, there's you know, no goalkeeper in the net. So its a very good chance to score. As opposed to cheating.

And that cheating instead of having a very good opportunity to score could knock you out of the tournament.
No goalkeeper but DeLigt, Kimmich and Davies sprinting back.
 

Gio

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Is there a straight-on angle to show if he engineered the contact or not?
 

Lash

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Such an unatural movement, fantastic call by the ref who was excellent all game. He even finally booked Kane for backing in, which English refs let him get away with for years unpunished.
 

ForFuchsSake

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Never a pen - he’s clearly gone out of his way to initiate contact with Neuer. Can’t believe the free pass Saka has been given in the media when it comes to his diving antics, all because he’s England’s golden boy.

If that was the other way round and Sane had tried for a pen against Raya, the British media would want his head on a spike.
 

WeePat

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Is there a straight-on angle to show if he engineered the contact or not?
Angle from the side makes it look like a penalty. If that’s the only angle I saw I’d say it’s a penalty. Angle from behind makes it look like Saka completely engineered the contact himself.

 

Gabriel Djemba-Bebe

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In the PL, that gets given. Stupid English refs.
You're right, to be fair. It's mad how things have flipped over the past 10 years.

I now have a lot more faith in UEFA refs to make the correct calls and let the game flow.

I actually think Nani's infamous red card doesn't get given in the 2024 Champions League, but does get given by the PL refs in the VAR room watching their slow motion replays on repeat for 2 minutes.
 

Gio

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Angle from the side makes it look like a penalty. If that’s the only angle I saw I’d say it’s a penalty. Angle from behind makes it look like Saka completely engineered the contact himself.

Aye. We really need an angle in the direction he touched the ball to see if Neuer has crossed his path or vice versa.
 

Dominos

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He decided he was going down before it happened. Elliott did the same last weekend. Unfortunately Wan Bissaka made it easier for Elliott than Neuer did for Saka.
They look like 2 very different incidents to me.

Wan Bissaka has stretched his entire leg right across the path where Elliot is running, unless Elliot jumps over Bissaka leg then there is no way he won't get tripped by taking a stride forward in the direction he was already running.

Saka has ample opportunity to simply round Neuer but instead decides to stick his leg to his right to manufacture contact that was far from inevitable. Reminds me of that famous Pires dive vs Portsmouth to save their unbeaten run.

Ultimately I feel contact was inevitable for Elliot so it's a pen.

Contact was manufactured by Saka moving his leg out to his side, so dive. Though it is a close one to be fair, one might argue he's moving his leg forward rather than out to the side, in which case I can see a pen.
 

Daydreamer

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I kind of think it wasn’t actually a dive, simply because it would be such a stupid decision with an open goal in front of you. I think he anticipated the contact, braced himself for it, and then it just didn’t come.
The contact clearly comes. Neuer mmoves his leg towards the ball and into Saka's path. You could argue that Saka "played for it", but it isn't a dive.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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I think its clearly a dive, can't believe some ar saying it isn't. He's moved his leg out so unnaturally.
 

WeePat

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I think its clearly a dive, can't believe some ar saying it isn't. He's moved his leg out so unnaturally.
The only thing that makes me question that is the fact Neuer also sticks his leg out a bit.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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The only thing that makes me question that is the fact Neuer also sticks his leg out a bit.
Neuer doesn't move his leg much at all, certainly not enough to intercept the line Saka isn't trying to move into. Its a clear dive.
 

WeePat

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He changes angle of leg and holds it in the air. A split second after all the posts (showing goalie leg raised) on social media by Arsenal fans … goalie outs leg down again.

Picking a ball up in the penalty area when it’s live though… that’s a penalty?
 

kaku06

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That’s embarrassing from him especially when he has an open goal in front of him instead he’s so desperate for the penalty that he’s going in a different direction altogether to get the contact.:lol:
 

mu4c_20le

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The contact clearly comes. Neuer mmoves his leg towards the ball and into Saka's path. You could argue that Saka "played for it", but it isn't a dive.
Neuer stops and Saka, clearly expecting/looking for the early contact, hangs his leg in the air like a gazelle and makes no attempt to avoid collision. Should've been booked for diving or taking out the goalkeeper.
 

Phil

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He needs to stop this shit, especially when he could easily have rounded the keeper.
 

AndrewMac

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Never a penalty. Stretches his leg slightly in an unsual position get contact in my opinion.