Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer believes it is ‘pretty simple’ to see that Diogo Jota dived to win a penalty against the Magpies on Monday night.
Liverpool beat Eddie Howe’s side 4-2 on New Year’s Day, breezing past Newcastle to move three points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Jurgen Klopp’s team were miles better than Newcastle, with Martin Dubravka producing a wonderful performance to keep the scoreline respectable. However, the game was not without incident.
With the score at 3-2 and Newcastle believing they could get an equaliser, Diogo Jota was played through on goal on the counterattack. The £40million forward took the ball beyond Dubravka, giving himself an open goal.
However, Jota then threw himself to the floor, conning the referee to win a penalty. The replays showed that Anthony Taylor had made an extremely harsh decision, but VAR were unable to overturn it.
Mo Salah stepped up and converted from 12 yards, putting the game to bed and ensuring there was no grandstand finish at Anfield.
Liverpool deserved to win by a long way, but the actions of Jota were difficult to stomach.
Shearer and Lineker agree on Jota dive after Liverpool beat Newcastle
Now Alan Shearer, Gary Lineker and Micah Richards have discussed the incident on The Rest Is Football podcast, with Richards asking whether the tiniest amount of contact was enough to send Jota to the ground. However, the two former strikers do not believe that is the case.
Richards: “We need to put some context into this because you two are both strikers, you are both running at that pace. I thought if he is running at that pace it only takes a little bit of a touch to send you over. That was my first thought. But then obviously he exaggerates the dive afterwards. So can you explain to me what happened from a striker’s point of view.”
Shearer: “Yeah, he dived! It’s pretty simple.”
Lineker: “I would agree with you on that one!”
Shearer: “That’s as clear a dive as you will ever see. What was it, three paces after a tiny piece of contact? He could have got the ball, stayed on his feet and tapped it in! I was amazed that VAR could look at that and both him and whoever his assistant VAR could look at that and think that’s okay, he hasn’t dived. I mean goodness me. Do me a favour.”
Penalty drama should not mask over Liverpool’s dominance
Shearer and Lineker are adamant that it was a dive from Jota.
It was a bonkers incident, as he had an open goal. He had no reason to go down, yet the replays clearly show that Dubravka did not force him over.
The fact that it was allowed to stand was laughable, and it compounded a difficult night for Newcastle. The Reds had already been awarded another soft penalty, while the most blatant shout at the other end of the pitch was ignored.
Regardless, Liverpool were the better team. Some of the decisions were infuriating, but it does not take away from the fact that Newcastle did not deserve anything from the game.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
