ESPN FC’s Alejandro Moreno believes players must do what it takes to get a win, but does not think Steve Bruce should be making distinctions as to what and what is not acceptable in Latin America when it comes to diving.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes an independent panel retrospectively punishing divers would be a “disaster.”
The west Londoners have found themselves at the heart of the simulation debate this week after several high-profile incidents during last weekend’s 2-0 win against Hull.
Diego Costa and Willian both received yellow cards for dives at Stamford Bridge, where City boss Steve Bruce claimed Gary Cahill went down “like something out of Swan Lake” in the penalty box.
Those incidents, along with a smattering of others, have brought the topic of diving to the fore, with former referee Mark Halsey suggesting the “only one real solution” is to have an independent panel review such decisions retrospectively.
That, Mourinho says, would be a terrible development.
“The independent panels don’t do their job well in any case,” the Portuguese said. “When you go to an independent panel to analyse and suspend players by video evidence, it is a disaster. It is a disaster.
“I remember last season, and I don’t want to say the names of clubs or players, you had players and clubs punished by panels and you had clubs and players protected by panels.
“I saw somebody kick a player on the floor, hit him in the back — no suspension. I saw others with minor things being suspended. Players are punished for silly comments on Facebook, Instagram and this kind of thing, and players are not punished for other things.
“You speak one week about one dive that, for me, was not even a dive — you don’t speak about Filipe Luis who could be in this moment in the hospital having big surgery on his knee or in his leg.
“Independent panels are the same ones that last season analysed my situation against Aston Villa and I was punished and suspended because I tried to help, so for me panels only favour the ones who always have the favours.”
An incident in the penalty box last week involving Gary Cahill is still driving debates about diving.
Refereeing was the main talking point in the news conference ahead of Monday’s trip to Stoke, where Mourinho repeatedly underlined the need for referee Neil Swarbrick to control the game.
“I like [the test of going to Stoke],” he said. “I like, but it’s no problem with a good referee that can understand what is aggressivity, or when the aggression finishes and start the rules of the game. No problem at all.
“We need a good referee, yes. I think we need a good, experienced referee who can understand exactly that.
“What happened in both boxes in this kind of matches needs important decisions. What is aggressiv-ity and what goes beyond, go beyond the rules of the game. That is important, but I like it, yes.”
The referee’s performance was a theme Mourinho kept revisiting, from being asked about Thibaut Courtois dealing with crosses to and whether Mark Hughes’ side is as aggressive as that of the Tony Pulis era.
“We have our own identity,” the Chelsea boss said. “We want to play football. We play beautiful football and that’s what we want to do, but we can compete with physicality.
“That’s no problem for us. The referee is there and I’m not worried because the referee is there.”