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Mohamed Salah will again be charged with diving after winning another crucial penalty for Liverpool, but referee Martin Atkinson was perfectly right to kick Cardiff yesterday. The Egyptian may be sinking too easily and a little in the theater, but the villain of the play here is Sean Morrison.
Rather than using his height, weight and ability to gain an advantage, Cardiff's defender was lazy and wrapped his arms around the front. The penalty could have been applied a few seconds before Salah fell to the ground, because Morrison was covered with arms.
Salah suffers from a growing problem in the English defenders fight game, which remains too often unpunished. Salah, as well as other attackers, explained that by staying on his feet, he was at risk of not being punished. He takes the rule of Sam Allardyce – go to the ground. Lionel Messi remains standing in the Spanish matches, he does not need to go to the ground, as La Liga referees tend to punish struggles and holding more severely than their English counterparts.
Salah's reputation precedes him, which is another reason why Morrison's challenge has been misjudged. Atkinson would also have seen previous examples on television of how Salah behaved in the penalty box and would have done his homework. He is a regular referee of Eddie and did not have the opportunity in this case to award the penalty.
To be fair to Morrison, he should have received a penalty earlier when Andrew Robertson seemed to be tugging on his shirt while the ball was crossed in the box. However, Atkinson, who was at some distance from the incident, felt that he did not have a sufficient angle of vision to be able to inflict a penalty.
Keith Hackett is a former referee and his e-book, You are the Ref, is available.
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