Rightly or wrongly, Mohamed Salah has a reputation for diving.
In recent seasons there have been numerous incidents involving Liverpool’s world-class forward going to ground easily in an attempt to win penalties.
The latest incident occurred during Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over West Ham on Saturday evening.
Arthur Masuaku certainly clipped Salah’s foot, but whether the contact was strong enough to send Salah sprawling to the ground is debatable.
Liverpool’s No. 11 dusted himself down and scored the first-half penalty which cancelled out Pablo Fornals’ opener.
Diogo Jota then netted an 85th-minute winner to earn all three points for the reigning Premier League champions, who moved to the top of the table.
West Ham boss David Moyes blasted Salah after the match and questioned why VAR wasn’t used to reverse the decision.
“It’s not the sort of football I want to be involved in,” Moyes was quoted saying by The Mirror. “I think our player stops and throws his arms up because he’s so disappointed about the dive.
“I’m just disappointed they didn’t turn the decision around.
“Maybe in the second half a decision went for us, but the first-half one didn’t.
“I am amazed the penalty kick was given for the action in the first half.
“I really am. I am getting disappointed now.
“Not with the decision but more disappointed that we are allowing those penalty kicks to be accepted.
“In my books, it is not a penalty.”
Watch the incident here…
He dives the wrong way for one, pathetic by Salah…. LiVARpool are back 🤮 #LIVWHU #Salah #Dive pic.twitter.com/Qu5tBlvI3q
— Amit Mavar (@amit_mavar) October 31, 2020
It was then discussed on Match of the Day on Saturday evening.
Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said: “The problem we’ve got, which we’ve always had, is that players don’t get penalties if they don’t go down.
“We’re seeing too often players doing what Salah did there and nobody wants to see it.”
Watch the clip here…
"We're seeing too often players doing what Salah did there and nobody wants to see it"#MOTD pic.twitter.com/Sn5BifR0uZ
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) October 31, 2020
However, Liverpool fans are angry that Murphy’s reaction to an alleged dive by Harry Kane in December 2019 was completely different.
@GaryLineker #harrykane Hope this gets some scrutiny on #MOTD tonight. Embarrassing! pic.twitter.com/XEMTkqYC7b
— Paul ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🌍 (@PaulKLFC) December 26, 2019
Fans have subsequently voiced their bemusement on social media…
