Diving

[Stan]

I think you are right about southern Europe but unfortunately diving is also current in Belgium, Holland and Germany.
IMHO British teams could tackle less. It is possible to defend with less physical contact. Some players who could that: Dessaily (in his prime), Thuram, Cannavaro, Nesta, Kompany, Rijkaard and less known but also very good: Timmy Simons of Club Brugge. What they do so well is what we call in Dutch: "verdedigen op techniek" literally translated using technique to defend.
Another way to play less physical is to play more short (and low) passes. Most British teams play wit crosses to good headers and that way there is more physical contact. What i'm trying to say is that the British way of playing football simply is more physical. And by the way, i really love British football although i have the impression that (mostly English) people over here tend to over-estimate thje quality of their teams (something that we Belgians don't do because our teams are playing that bad that it's difficult to over-estimate them).

 

[ClassicD]

How do you defend I asked, and the reply? "Defend better" - I can't argue with that I guess! :mrgreen:

I agree with you about the style of play over here btw, and also the attitude of the British fans with regards to over-estimating their team (Man Utd for example, won it in a previous decade and have done nothing since).

About diving - until UEFA/FIFA take action to stamp it out, the only way for our teams to get on a level playing field is to produce a crop of outstanding defenders who can tackle without a diving player being able to fool the referee, or, more realistically, start diving ourselves. Sometimes I think our teams are too honest by trying to stay on their feet when fouled, which usually means no free-kick is given. I can actually give an example of when a player has learned. In the Seville final vs Porto, the referee was Lubos Michel, and IMO he was completely fooled throughout the game by diving. Anyway, when Celtic recently played against Barcelona in the Nou Camp, Mr Michel was the referee. Chris Sutton had clearly not forgotten his refereeing style, and so whenever there was any sort of contact on him, he'd simply allow himself to fall and not try to stay on his feet. The result? We got a few free-kicks, and one led to a goal we scored from.

I am not saying we should dive, but if we are fouled we should have the smarts to try and take a foul rather than stay on our feet, because the attitude of referees in Europe certainly favours this style.

 

[Sulph]

Stop crying like a girl. You're basically through anyway. If it was a Chelsea player, you'd be making excuses right about now. "Oh... Drogba just slipped on the dodgy grass" or "He was blatantly tugging his shirt" or "Carvalho's studs werent right. His bottom left hard soil stud caught one of the grass strands causing him to fall.. its perfectly legit". :roll:

Im not saying that JC/Drogba dont dive! Im talking about diving getting kicked out in general! Why cant you read the posts and not assume what people are saying!

 

[fd1972uk]

FD

 

[RuneEdge]

:lmao:
The picture made my day.
In this country, defenders HAVE to be physical so we're never gonna get defenders like Nesta over here unless an english defender moves abroad.
Look at England's defenders. Terry, Ferdinand and Campbell are all very physical players. Its what makes them good. Gerrard and Rooner are very physical too.
And if thats not convincing, look at Dyer and Bowyer.