Everton manager David Moyes is concerned that Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and his antics could be costly to his team in the Merseyside derby – for the second year running.
Moyes is still fuming after the Uruguayan took a tumble at Goodison in the Premier League last year that resulted in Jack Rodwell receiving an early red card despite there having been no contact, as the Toffees went on to lose to their great rivals at home.
“I’ve got concerns about Suarez, yes,” Moyes said in The Mirror. “He’s got history and these people are very good at it.
“Last year was a dive, and the referee made a really poor decision that ruined the game after 15 minutes.”
Moyes feels that diving could ruin the game for spectators, insisting that fans will turn off when seeing over-the-top reactions from players.
“It (diving) will turn the public and fans off football if they think people are conning their way to results,” said the Scot.
“When you’re out to manufacture results, supporters don’t like it. Supporters don’t like the idea of people going to ground too easily.
“Everyone who has ever played football, everyone who’s been involved, would hate that. You’d be saying, ‘Get Up!'”
Although Moyes clearly disapproves of diving in the game, he does not feel that it is a major problem.
“I don’t think too many players are at it, but I’d hope if I got one, I’d be big enough to say, ‘Will you stay on your feet please – I don’t like that’.
“I think retrospective viewing of diving is nearly more important than some of the technology they are on about bringing in.
“If you do that and players get banned, it wouldn’t take long before you’d cut it out.”
Moyes’s counterpart at Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers, goes into his first Merseyside Derby with questions surrounding his only fit striker and hopes that the game is played in the right spirit this week.
He told The Mirror, “The Merseyside derby is a terrific game full of passion, full of quality. I hope the referee Andre Marriner can really ensure everything is in control and the football is what is talked about.”