Sean Dyche indirectly accused Arsenal players of “diving all over the pitch” after Burnley’s 2-1 defeat at Emirates on Saturday.
The Clarets managed a comeback ahead of half time but fell to a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s incredible effort in the 64th minute. Right after the goal, Sead Kolasinac came on as a substitute, to add more defensive strength and got involved in a tussle with Ashley Barnes.
The fullback went down while Burnley pressed for a counter and the referee handed Barnes a yellow card for obstruction. Let’s us say, neither Dyche nor the striker was too happy with the decision.
After the game, Dyche said in the press conference, “The game is in a terrible state in regards to blatant acts of cheating. 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 shoelaces.
“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?”
A bit of irony is that Alexandre Lacazette was held on by a swarm of Burnley defenders before the Frenchman went down in the penalty box and still managed to score the opening goal for Arsenal.
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