In 2012, Manchester City striker Sergio Agüero spoke openly of his feeling that non-English Premier League players were treated more harshly by officials.
“Here in England, there are almost as many foreign players as there are English players and it’s not right that some have a privilege and some don’t,” he told SI in 2012.
“There is a bit of privilege with the players who come from that country, but that is normal.
“We just play our game, and the referee’s job is to know who is cheating and who is not.”
We wonder what Aguero would have made of Anthony Taylor’s decision not to give Mo Salah multiple free throws on Sunday against his former club…
The Egyptian doesn’t get the free kicks he deserves. This is a statistic and it cannot be denied. He is a dribbler, someone who is constantly facing opponents trying to stop him, but for some reason; he wins far fewer free kicks than his English counterparts who operate in a similar part of the field.
Per bunt, Jack Grealish receives four times as many free throws as Salah. That’s not because he’s a better footballer and more skilled at winning them, it’s because they treat him differently.
MoSalah has received “fouls” every 89 touches in the last 5 seasons
Grealish 22Kane 24Sterling 26Rashford 31
— Simon Brundish (@SimonBrundish) October 16, 2022
Bernardo Silva’s foul on Salah in the closing stages against City was ridiculous. He grabbed his shirt and performed a wrestling-style barrel roll. When Silva got up, he backed up to Liverpool’s number 11 and kicked it. Nor was the initial incident sanctioned as a foul and the VAR also ignored Silva’s second infraction.
Not in vain Jurgen Klopp lost his way and ended up being expelled. He deserved it, by the way. You can’t yell in someone’s face like that. But my word, his frustration was at least justified.
“There is a stat that Mo is the only player who commits fewer fouls against him. But it’s not like he didn’t get fouled, we just didn’t call,” Klopp told reporters in March.
“If you compare him to other strikers it’s crazy, absolutely crazy, how low is his number of fouls against him that the referee calls. [for]. Craziness.
“So it means he has contact constantly, going down, you have to get up again and things like that.”
But with referees this season deciding to let the game flow, to the delight of many dinosaurs in the television studios, who played the game at half the pace of 40 years ago, Salah is receiving even less.
In the first half, his legs were cut off in preparation for an Erling Haaland chance, and even then, he got nothing. The referee saw it all. He knew it wasn’t a dive. The opposing player, without taking the ball, caused Salah to fall to the ground. is a foul. This is what fouling is. The FA rule book defines it as preventing an opponent from making contact, but with Salah the upper limit for a foul is undeniably higher than others.
Why?
Last year, Peter Walton admitted that the games of certain players are investigated and how to handle them is determined.
“Referees study players and formations before a game. They are aware that certain players need to be dealt with proactively,” he told the Times.
For laughs, Walton went on to claim that in a match against Liverpool, Harry Kane was not sent off due to his excellent reputation.
“Kane does not fall into this category. It’s been ten years since his last red card.”
During Salah’s success in England, there has been a huge attempt by his rivals to discredit him and label him a diver. It’s laughable. He tries to stay on his feet more than almost any other attacker, simply because he knows he won’t get a whistle. However, the statistics show that the referees have eaten this senseless propaganda and are judging him for it. Walton’s admission almost confirms it.
In the Champions League, Salah is fouled every 60 touches, not much, but much more often than in England.
Referees in England are a tight-knit private club. They have their own classifications. They compete with each other for the best games. They constantly talk in WhatsApp groups. It would be very interesting to see what they say about Salah, because the evidence is damning.
Silva’s foul on Salah that was not committed due to the referees trying to keep the flow of an already brilliant game is sheer stupidity.
It says a lot about Salah’s mentality and temperament that he still manages to keep a cool head and win big matches like he did for us at the weekend under these circumstances.
