Chris Sutton has stated that Mo Salah has a ‘history’ of diving and he did so against Aston Villa during Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Anfield, as he told 606 on BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.
Liverpool struggled to break Villa down from open play, but in the second-half, they were awarded a penalty when Tyrone Mings was adjudged to have fouled Salah inside the penalty area.
Salah beat the Villa defender down the line, as Mings tried to get ahead of his man and tackle the ball from the flying winger.
It all ended in a bit of a chaotic play and the on-field referee pointing to the spot.
But Sutton disagreed with the call that was made and stated that ‘something needs to happen’ with players throwing themselves to the ground too e`asily.
“Mo Salah has a history of going down too easily,” said Sutton. “I thought he bought the penalty. It shouldn’t have been a penalty. He has a history of it. He didn’t dive at the right time.
“We both sat there and watched Mane throw himself to the floor. That was simulation, we saw Sterling. It happens too much.
“On a serious note, something needs to happen for players to be cautioned or red-carded for diving because it’s bad for the game.
“And the big teams always get them.”
It was a difficult afternoon for the Reds because they just couldn’t break Villa down from open play.
Steven Gerrard did very well to set up his team to make themselves difficult to beat without the ball, but they just couldn’t get hold of the ball and motor forward.
Villa fans felt that they deserved a penalty of their own when Danny Ings was brought down by Alisson Becker after Salah scored his own.
But those calls were waved on and VAR didn’t even ask Stuart Atwell to look at the incident, as it proved to be more controversial than the penalty that was awarded at the other end.
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