Will Bernardo be the first to get a retrospective ban?

for his dive on Saturday......

This is what they are about to discuss on TS!!

Forgive me, but didn't he have his foot taken by the keepers knee? And...didn't the whining Dyche say "yes, there was contact"....

No chance his ankle was caught under the keepers knee.

crikey... Jim White is bitter about this..


only Saunders seems to have seen the contact...

It has to be blindingly obvious for anything to happen.

Isn't simulation a bookable offence? It rarely, if ever, gets punished if the penalty is awarded for the contact. But,  if there was minimal contact, which there was, it did not warrant the theatrical dive that Bernardo did, as Dyche pointed out and I think most of us would have thought that had it been given against us.

When I saw it live the fall looked a bit theatrical, but I've seen this photo on twitter & its pretty convincing. You can clearly see that his ankle is twisted at an angle by the keepers knee. I don't think he could have stayed on his feet even if wanted to. Had he fallen normally would he have got a penalty? We will never know, but the amount of times that Sterling is rugby tackled in the area & gets nowt says no.

I agree the theatrics were embarrassing but his ankle still buckled under the challenge which itself warrants the penalty, Therefore the correct decision from the ref. It cannot be simulation.

agreed...

over-the-top fall down (swan dive, arm throwing)..  yes
contact and foul.. yes

but to call it simulation, diving, cheating.. erm, not for me...

He so obviously exaggerated the fall but how many times do you get nowt when you fall normally?

They can't ban him, end of.....its a penalty, theatrics or not.

Saw via twitter that the FA have confirmed no retrospective ban.

No ban but fuck them for trying

It's city so you know they will try. The funny thing is although he was the standout creative player for a brilliant Monaco team if he got suspended we wouldn't even notice. It's part of the reason I hope we get Sanchez on a free next season & leave him be in January.

They are never free SB....he'll expect a massive signing on fee and huge wages.

But I'd rather we had him in January for the run in....than wait til next summer. Money's not an option if we do well in the CL and win the PL.

This was a penalty as contact was made and Bernardo's ankle on close inspection of the still photo was seen to buckle. However, the referee did not have a magnified still from a tv picture, he judged that there was contact and gave the penalty.
Howard Webb explained it quite well when he said that he preferred to call it exaggeration rather than simulation, the player felt the contact but his reaction was not consistent with the amount of contact, the way he dived forward in an exaggerated fashion was unnecessary. Whether Bernardo felt that the minimal contact would not have earned a penalty had he tried to stay on his feet i don't know. The referees have contributed to these incidents, it's their inconsistency in awarding penalties where there has been contact that perhaps makes players 'exaggerate' minimal but foul contact in the box. Remember when Aguero was brought down and the referee not only failed to award the penalty but booked Aguero for simulation? Damned if you do and damned if you dont