West Ham United beat Stoke City 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Xherdan Shaqiri of Stoke City is tackled by Manuel Lanzini of West Ham United
Former Premier League referee Graham Poll has told the Daily Mail that he doesn’t think West Ham United star Manuel Lanzini deserves a ban for his ‘dive’ against Stoke City.
The Hammers had picked up positive results against Chelsea and Arsenal before heading back on the road to take on Stoke City on Saturday afternoon – and manager David Moyes enjoyed arguably his finest game yet.
Mark Noble scored from the penalty spot to put West Ham 1-0 up in the first half, before Mark Arnautovic and Diafra Sakho pounced in the second half to give the Hammers a 3-0 victory.
Manuel Lanzini of West Ham
It was a mostly positive afternoon for West Ham as Moyes picked up his second win in charge of the club, but there was one thing for Moyes to worry about.
Playmaker Manuel Lanzini was a constant thorn in Stoke’s side, setting up the final two goals with perfectly-weighted passes, but it’s his role in the first goal which has sparked controversy.
Lanzini was running into the box and knocked the ball past Erik Pieters, seemingly already going to ground before the Dutch defender made contact, with Stoke accusing him of diving – only for the referee to award a penalty.
The Mirror report that the incident is now under investigation from the FA as they consider handing a ban to the Argentinian playmaker, and ex-Premier League referee Graham Poll has told the Daily Mail that he doesn’t think the incident is worth a ban.
Poll added that it was ‘a bit of a dive’, but not outrageous enough for serious action, whilst suggesting that David Moyes can’t fool the FA with his theory of ‘fatigue’ causing him to go down, and also noted that Lanzini could miss two huge games if banned.
“It’s a bit of a dive, but not an outrageous dive deserving of an FA charge,” said Poll. “I’m sorry if that doesn’t make sense, but that’s how hard it is to referee players such as Manuel Lanzini. I can understand why it incensed Mark Hughes, who needed help and didn’t get any. Leicester’s Wilfried Ndidi took an obvious dive and it was an easy decision for Martin Atkinson, but Lanzini was different.”
“He draws a tackle and expects the contact from Erik Pieters, who shapes to challenge and goes to ground but doesn’t follow through. Lanzini’s legs crumble, as players do in the modern game. They will tell you it is to avoid injury. It’s a hard call for the referee Graham Scott. My first thought was dive. Then I thought it was a penalty. The one thing it isn’t is ‘fatigue’ at the end of a long dribble, which is what David Moyes claimed. Sorry David. You’re not pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes with that! It will be interesting to see how the FA panel react on Monday morning. If Lanzini gets a ban, he will miss important games against Newcastle and Bournemouth — both of whom are now below West Ham in the table, thanks to the help of Lanzini’s theatrics,” he added.
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