"The game is in a terrible state in regards to blatant acts of cheating"
Sunday 18 August 2019 10:15, UK
Burnley boss Sean Dyche has demanded an immediate crackdown on diving in the wake of their 2-1 defeat at Arsenal.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's second-half goal secured victory for the hosts, but the major post-match talking point was Dyche's outburst against perceived diving.
"The game is in a terrible state in regards to blatant acts of cheating," he said.
Although Dyche said his complaint was "not specific to Arsenal", he continued: "Can you imagine Tony Adams, when he was here, tolerating that kind of stuff from his own players, let alone the opposition?
"You can very simply deal with it by giving a red card and a ban.
"Let me be clear, I'm not talking about gamesmanship, that's been going on in sport for hundreds of years - tennis players taking their time between points or taking a while to tie their shoe laces.
"I think footballers are entitled to go down if they've been touched - that was the same in my time. I'm talking about blatant acts of cheating where a player is falling down without being touched.
"The example I've used in the past is your children's maths test. If a teacher tells me my son cheated to get a good result, do I say 'well done for getting away with it' or do I agree with the teacher and tell my son it's unacceptable?"
Ironically, Arsenal took an early lead in the game when a determined Alexandre Lacazette stayed on his feet to bustle through several defenders and score.
Ashley Barnes levelled before half-time, but Aubameyang's strike secured Arsenal's first back-to-back win at the start of a season in a decade.
"We can be happy," Arsenal boss Unai Emery said. "(It was) very tough and we had to adapt our game plan. We struggled at times to impose our play.
"With new players, first game here this season, we looked different with them."
Home debutant Dani Ceballos was crowned Man of the Match and Emery was impressed with the Spaniard's versatility.
"With him, it's for us to use his qualities in the best position in our team with our ideas," he added.
"I spoke with him - before coming here - to play like an eight and a 10. Today he started like a 10, but a lot of times he was changing with Willock into the eight position, where he can feel better on the pitch."
