Fair play, and well played, I say to Alan Pardew for publicly criticising our former Wigan midfielder James McArthur following his shameful dive, in an attempt to win a penalty, against Stoke.
Pardew told Sky Sports that McArthur should ‘be embarrassed’ by his actions on Saturday in our two-one win at the Britannia Stadium.
Match Report: Click Here
Although Pardew did admit his surprise that McArthur had looked to con the referee into awarding a penalty anyway as he didn’t have him pegged down as such a person to do this – he shouldn’t have to as he’s a ‘great professional.’
This is the end of the matter though for him, he’s said what he wanted to and knows that the midfielder will be ashamed and embarrassed anyway, more so now having been called out by his own manager!
‘He dived. He should be embarrassed.
‘He’s a great professional and that’s unlike him. I was surprised but it shows what pressure does to players.
‘I haven’t spoken to him about it but I don’t need to. He will see the replay and he will be embarrassed.’
I credit Pardew for this, all too often managers can turn a blind eye to things that are wrong, some even defend – as it’s ‘what you do’ – players, but what good does this do? I think if more took a leave out of Pardew’s book like what he’s done here it might, if nothing else, shame more into thinking twice.
Clearly if retrospective punishment was dished out, as it is for bad fouls and the like, this would also be stamped out easier.
I don’t think McArthur will be trying this again anytime soon….
This site is looking for bloggers, so if you’re a fan that can offer us a genuine opinion we would love to share it with the masses.
To email your own unique article/blog for publishing ***CLICK HERE***
Share this article
