West Ham were denied a penalty against Arsenal last night when Matt Jarvis stayed on his feet following a challenge from Bacary Sagna.
Sam Allarydce wasn’t happy in his post match interview claiming there is no reward for being honest.
‘The fact is that when you stay on your feet referees don’t give penalties,’ said Big Sam. ‘The ref finds it very difficult to give. For honesty there is no reward. So what do I do? A foul is a foul, it doesn’t matter whether you go down or stay on your feet. You get slaughtered for diving, but when someone is honest and you don’t get what you should get. Every team, when you stay on your feet particularly in the penalty area, it’s a critical decision so you have to make the referee’s mind up.‘If there is contact, you should go down and make the referee’s mind up for him. There is no reward for being honest. But that is not the reason we haven’t won.’
Should Matt Jarvis have gone down when he felt contact or was he right to do the honourable thing and stay on his feet?
UPDATE:
Matt Jarvis has broken his silence saying:
“I don’t really know what to say, maybe I should be a bit cleverer and do what other players have done. Perhaps then, I could have got the penalty. I thought about it too late and then, if I had gone down, it would have been a late dive.”
Should players go down when they feel contact in the box even if they can stay up?