Pundit slams Manchester United star for ‘diving’ after West Brom draw

Manchester United will be very disappointed with the 1-1 draw that they played out against West Bromwich Albion away from home, in what was a hammer blow to their title challenge.

Not too long ago, the Red Devils were sitting at the top of the table. But poor results over the past several weeks has left them trailing Manchester City, who currently enjoy a 7 point lead at the top and even have a game in hand. Safe to say Pep Guardiola’s side are in the driver’s seat right now.

A worrying trend is also developing at Old Trafford as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have been found struggling against the bottom sides of the Premier League. They only managed a narrow win against Fulham and then lost at the hands of Sheffield United, who at that point of time had won only once in the league this season. And now they have managed only a draw against 19th placed West Brom.

There was a point in the match though where it looked like the Red Devils might have found a way past the Baggies when Maguire was awarded a penalty. But it was later overturned after a VAR check. And as reported by the Metro, Graeme Souness blasted the Manchester United captain for throwing himself to the ground:

"‘It’s clearly offside and he goes to ground as though he’s been hit with a baseball bat. Diving!‘He said he thinks it’s a penalty, it’s not enough to bring him down the way he goes down. He throws himself to the ground. It’s not a penalty.’"

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It will be unfair to brand the Manchester United captain a ‘diver’

Now, to be fair, the goal should not have stood as it appeared to be offside anyway. On the other hand, the diving issue is something that is open to interpretation and is unfortunately something that is found in the modern game.

It is rare for referees to give penalties when a player does not go down in the box. As a result, it has become a habit for them to do so even under minimal contact. It happens every week, in every game., not only in England but all over the world.

Thus, it might not be fair to point just one man out for diving when there are hundreds of players doing it every week to the point where it has become part of the game. It is not a part of the game that we agree with but one nonetheless.