Michael Owen told Premier League Productions that he ‘really admires’ Ian Poveda for not going down to win a penalty during Leeds United’s 3-1 defeat to Chelsea last night.
But the former England striker thinks his actions, or even lack of actions, ‘cost his team a point’ and Marcelo Bielsa would have stated in the dressing room that the likes of Mo Salah, Jack Grealish and Danny Welbeck have won penalties for a lot less recently.
It’s a tricky situation for Poveda because if he did go down then Leeds would have more than likely been awarded a penalty, and he probably should have because Ben Chilwell’s kick did result in him losing his balance.
Nonetheless, Owen would have been in many situations such as that during his career and he shared his thoughts on the Poveda incident.
“Very honest player,” said Owen. “The manager in the dressing room would be thinking.’I have just watched Mo Salah, I have watched people like Grealish, Danny Welbeck last week. I have watched all these players, Sterling today, they have got half the touch you [Poveda] have got’.
“That is as much if not more than I have seen in the past couple of weeks times 5. Honesty gets you nowhere and it cannot be like that. I admire the lad for staying on his feet and I think he should stay on his feet. And I don’t think you should be given a penalty for that.
“I do think we need to get rid of this tiny little touch and someone going down. Every single week – We need to rid ourself of this.
“I admire that today. I really admire it. He got a big touch. He could have gone down. Probably cost his team a point because that would have made it 2-2 with not that long to go. But he’s being honest and it does Leeds no favours.”
The problem with the penalty rule is that no-one from the managers to the supporters actually know what a penalty is in today’s game.
Mo Salah won a penalty, far less than the Poveda one, against West Ham last month, so it’s understandable if some Leeds fans are left frustrated.
There is clearly no consistency, clarity, understanding or common sense to this rule. But then again, that perhaps applies for football and it’s officiating today.
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