Tom Ross Column: Liverpool penalty against Birmingham City was a disgrace!
Cheats never prosper, goes the old saying. Well they did at Anfield on Monday night when Liverpool’s David N’Gog dived to win the Merseysiders a match-saving penalty and deny Blues the chance to take all three points.
I heard people talking around me at Anfield claiming it was professional or that it was a part of the modern game.
It wasn’t professionalism.
It wasn’t “the game”.
It was an embarrassing case of cheating, nothing more and nothing less.
What surprised me was the reaction from Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez who tried to justify it by talking about how much possession Liverpool had had in the game and how much they deserved to win.
What a mealy-mouthed unsporting attitude he has shown, doing more to sum up the problems in this great game than anything else.
Rafa the Gaffa, along with his cohorts Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson believe they have a divine right to win games by whatever means necessary.
I am certain they don’t tell their players to dive or cheat but when those players do dive or cheat they then do all they can to protect them.
Football fans would have had more respect for Benitez had he said after the game that N’Gog’s actions where unacceptable and had besmirched the good name of Liverpool Football Club.
How can they sleep at night, how can they look their children and loved ones in the eye, after winning points by unfair means.
Diving is as despicable as spitting at an opponent and has to be sorted by the game’s governing bodies.
Rafa was spot on when he said that his team dominated possession.
