Everton boss Frank Lampard rubbishes Anthony Gordon diving claims
Frank Lampard has flown to the defence of Everton winger Anthony Gordon after the heavy scrutiny the youngster has faced after his yellow card for simulation.
The Liverpool born attacker was centre stage of two penalty incidents that split opinion in the Blues’ 2-0 loss at Anfield last week.
Lampard was quick to rubbish diving claims when speaking to the media ahead of the Toffees’ Premier League clash against Chelsea this weekend.
He told Liverpool Echo: “I don’t think that’s the case, I think Anthony’s booking was the first of his senior career for simulation, someone will check me on that maybe but I know that’s what I’ve been told.
“If you’re looking at attacking players in the league, forward players, fast players that change direction very quickly and look at them when they change direction, if somebody sticks their leg out and makes contact, I think you can go back and find a lot of clips that look very similar to the first-half incident.
“Whether that’s a penalty or not, I’m not going to sit here and say that’s a stonewall penalty but there’s definitely a contact.
“The second half one is a penalty in my opinion. It won’t be in everyone’s opinion but in my firm, firm opinion it’s a penalty because Anthony was ahead of the defender, the defender stepped on his foot and gave him a push – not a big one – but one at pace, to knock him over and we didn’t get a penalty for it.
“I think it would be unfair to put that on Anthony, he doesn’t feel it, he’s a dedicated boy, he just wants to play well for this club.”
Learning curve.
Lampard simply has to come out and defend his players in the media. Any good manager would and that will likely never change.
The conversations behind the scenes might be slightly different though – there is no way the first incident at Anfield is a penalty and being brutally honest, that is why Gordon doesn’t get the second.
He did himself no favours with how easily he went to the ground in the box at Anfield and if he isn’t careful his diving reputation will stick.
That isn’t to say he shouldn’t have been awarded a penalty when Joel Matip bundled him to the ground in front of the Blues fans inside Anfield but the first incident certainly played in the referee’s mind.
Gordon was by far the best player of the game against Liverpool – he was breathtaking from the first to the last minute but his performance will be remembered for all of the wrong reasons, unfortunately.
It is a good learning curve for the 21-year-old who will undoubtedly be a future Toffees star – if he isn’t already.
In other Everton news, Alex Iwobi has shared rare Goodison Park scenes that “removes the fear” of the Blues’ relegation battle.
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