Why soccer players always pretend to be hurt
Plus: how diving actually works, Arsenal win at Anfield, and the player nicknamed Donkey (who's anything but one)
Sponsored by
On Sunday, Liverpool's best striker got dragged back by his shirt, stayed on his feet, and was told by his manager afterwards that if he’d fallen to the floor he would’ve won his side a penalty. On tap today:
🤸 Why soccer players dive, where it came from, and why nobody can agree on it
⚽ Arsenal win at Anfield, Brighton stun City, and the Champions League returns
🍻 A beer with Kai Havertz, the man who settled Arsenal and Liverpool’s decider on Sunday
Let’s tap in.
🥃 TOP SHELF
Arsenal’s Gabriel acting like he’s just been shot in an attempt to win a free kick.
Why do soccer players dive?
Every bartender knows two kinds of customer.
There's the fella who stands quietly at the bar with his money out, waiting his turn. And there's the obnoxious lad who waves a twenty over everyone's head and shouts.
As annoying as the paper-waver is, I have to admit that most of the time, it’s he who gets served first. I try to ignore him but he’s just so damn attention-seeking.
On Sunday at Anfield, Liverpool’s star forward Alexander Isak was the quiet fella.
What happened
In the first half of Liverpool's 1-0 loss to Arsenal, Isak went to head a cross about seven yards out. Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber grabbed his shirt to pull him back. Isak couldn’t reach the ball, stayed on his feet and played on.
No penalty from the referee. No penalty from VAR either.
“So he got punished for being honest?”
Pretty much. And Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola said so out loud. If Isak had gone down, he told Sky Sports, “they (the referees) call the penalty 100 per cent.” Asked if he'd tell his players to go to ground next time, he said he would.
Then the same game showed the other side of it. Late on, Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister squared up to Arsenal's Noni Madueke. Their foreheads touched, and Mac Allister went down holding his face like he'd been hit by a truck. VAR checked it, Madueke stayed on, and Mac Allister got the yellow card for play-acting.
Even Jamie Carragher, a Liverpool legend working as a pundit, wasn't having it: “That is a joke from Mac Allister.”
Why players do it
Simple maths. A dive in the box can win a penalty kick, which is pretty much an 80% chance of a goal. The cost, if the referee spots it, is a yellow card. Worth the risk? Probably.
Referees see everything once, at full speed, from one angle. A player who stays up looks like a player who wasn't fouled. So players learn to sell it. The other reasons are less noble: getting an opponent sent off (see Mac Allister), or rolling around to run down the clock when you're winning.
Where it came from
The English game liked to call diving a foreign import. When German striker Jürgen Klinsmann joined Tottenham in 1994 with a reputation for it, he opened his first press conference with: “Are there any diving schools in London?”. He then celebrated his debut goal by diving across the grass.
The import story doesn't hold up, though. Back in 1975, long before the foreign stars arrived, a Huddersfield player admitted in a newspaper that he'd dived to win a penalty.
The rulebook caught up slowly. Since 1999, faking a foul has been a yellow card. Since 2017, England can hand out a two-match ban after the game if a dive wins a penalty or gets someone sent off. But it's barely used at all.
Who does it?
Mostly attackers in and around the box, because that's where a fall is worth the most. Also quick dribblers, who get kicked all day and start “helping” the referee notice.
Brazil's Neymar is the poster boy. At the 2018 World Cup, a Swiss TV station timed him spending nearly 14 minutes on the ground across four games.
Psychologists even have a name for the classic dive pose: the “archer's bow.” Chest out, head back, arms flung up behind you, legs bent off the ground. Real fouls don't make you land like that. It looks exactly like this…
So what does the game think?
Everyone hates diving. Right up until their own player wins a penalty with one.
That's the trap Sunday exposed. Fans and pundits want honesty. Then an honest striker stays on his feet, gets nothing, and his manager decides honesty is a luxury.
⏰ TLDR: Players dive because it works. A fall can win a penalty or get an opponent sent off, and the risk is a yellow card. On Sunday, Isak stayed up and was denied a clear penalty, and Mac Allister went down and got booked. Liverpool's manager now says he'll tell his players to go to ground.
🗣️ SOUND LIKE A REGULAR
“making a meal of it”
/meɪk ə ˈmiːl əv ɪt/ 🔊
phrase · soccer
Definition: When a player exaggerates contact or an injury so a small knock looks far worse than it was. Also used for anyone overcomplicating something simple.
Origin: Having a long, slow, formal sit-down meal when a quick snack on the run would have done the job. Instead of a simple, quick restart of play, a situation turns into a lengthy stoppage, involving trainers, medical staff, and heated arguments with the referee.
USED IN A SENTENCE
“Yeah, obviously there was contact, but not thaaaat much. He's rolled over three times and asked for a stretcher. He's making a meal of it.”
🗞️ THE WEEKLY TAP-IN…
Morgan Rogers celebrating his goal vs Man Utd.
Premier League recap: matchweek 9 of 38
Arsenal are now top on 24 points, three clear of Manchester City, and now nine ahead of Liverpool. City have lost two in a row after winning their first seven. Full table here.
Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal: Kai Havertz finished a low Declan Rice cross after 16 minutes, and that was that. It's Arsenal's first win at Anfield in 14 years. Florian Wirtz hit the crossbar and Mac Allister missed a free header from 10 yards. You know the rest of the drama by now.
Manchester City 0-1 Brighton: Revenge, three days after Brighton lost to City on penalties in the League Cup. Yasin Ayari, who missed his penalty in that shootout, scored the winner after 11 minutes. Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen made seven saves, and Brighton are now third.
Chelsea 2-0 Manchester United: United were the better side for the first half. Then Morgan Rogers scored five minutes after the break, Lisandro Martínez was sent off for a second yellow that also gave away a penalty, and Cole Palmer converted it. United are now nine games without a win in all competitions, their worst run since 1988-89.
Tottenham 2-0 Crystal Palace: Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta was sent off after 13 minutes for a studs-up tackle, and Spurs headed in two corners through Archie Gray and Jan Paul van Hecke. That's three league wins in a row for Spurs, for the first time in 20 months. Yes, 20.
The rest: Bournemouth 2-0 Leeds, Brentford 2-0 Nottingham Forest, Coventry 3-1 Sunderland, Hull 2-2 Ipswich, Aston Villa 1-1 Fulham. Newcastle v Everton closes the round tonight (3pm ET, USA Network).
The Champions League preview
Matchday 4 of 8. Quick refresher: all 36 teams sit in one big league table. The top eight go straight to the round of 16, ninth to 24th get a playoff, and the bottom 12 go home. Three games in, only four teams have a perfect record: PSG, Real Madrid, Liverpool and, whisper it, Aston Villa.
📺 Where to watch in the US: every game streams on Paramount+, with a few picked for CBS. In Spanish, it's TUDN, Univision and ViX. All times ET.
Tuesday
Barcelona v Aston Villa (3pm): Villa are second in the table with three wins from three. Now they go to the Camp Nou. Biggest test yet.
Atlético Madrid v Bayern Munich (3pm): Two giants stuck in the middle of the table. Bayern are unbeaten but have drawn two of three.
Manchester United v Roma (3pm): United are 20th with three points and nine games without a win. A good night to find one.
Villarreal v PSG (3pm): The table-toppers visit Villarreal, who've lost two of three.
Wednesday
AEK Athens v Real Madrid (12:45pm): Real are perfect so far. AEK need points to stay out of the bottom 12.
Fenerbahçe v Liverpool (12:45pm): Liverpool can't buy a win against Arsenal, but they're perfect in Europe. Fenerbahçe are 31st. Watch who stays on their feet.
Slavia Prague v Arsenal (3pm): Arsenal are seventh and unbeaten. Slavia are 32nd with one point.
RB Leipzig v Manchester City (3pm): City have lost two league games in a row and sit 10th here. Leipzig are 29th.
🍻 HAVE A BEER WITH…
Arsenal’s goalscorer on Sunday, Kai Havertz.
Kai Havertz
Club and country: Arsenal and Germany
This week: Scored the only goal at Anfield, giving Arsenal their first win there in 14 years and a three-point lead at the top. It was his 46th Premier League goal, making him the highest-scoring German in the league's history.
Fact: 27-year-old Havertz is mad about donkeys. His family keeps them back home in Germany, some teammates call him “The Donkey,” and a UK sanctuary named a foal after him.
Toast: An Öcher Stadtbräu, a cloudy, unfiltered pils you can only get on tap at the Aachener Brauhaus in Aachen, the city where he was born. “Öcher” is local slang for anything from Aachen.
Instagram: @kaihavertz29
🔥 HOUSE SPECIALS
⚽ Goal of the week: Morgan Rogers solo goal vs Man Utd.
🎉 Fanzone: Sky Sports' pundits going back and forth on whether Isak should have gone down. Even they can't agree.
📅 On this day: November 2, 2013. Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic kicked the ball 13 seconds into a game against Southampton. The wind took it, it bounced over the other keeper and went in. Measured at 301 feet, it went into the Guinness World Records as the longest goal ever scored. He didn't celebrate, out of respect for his fellow keeper. Class.
🐶 Underdog corner: Brighton went to Manchester City's ground, won 1-0, and are now third in the Premier League.
👕 Wardrobe watch: Chelsea's 2027-28 home shirt has reportedly leaked. Checkerboard cuffs inspired by the blue and white flags fans wave at Stamford Bridge, and gold trim back on the home kit for the first time in 15 years. Due out next May.
🔗 Most clicked from Friday: Fleetwood's limited-edition Arsenal shirt.
That’s all, folks. Sláinte.