Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has had his say on Sadio Mane’s commendable decision to stay on his feet following a robust challenge from Ethan Ampadu over the weekend.
Liverpool ran out comfortable winners on Sunday, seeing off Sheffield United 2-0, but it could have been an even more convincing victory had their Senegalese forward gone down in the penalty area.
Chelsea loanee Ampadu made a wild sliding challenge inside his own 18-yard box as Mane was attempting to dribble past the 20-year-old. The Wales international caught Liverpool’s No. 10 on the ankle, however, he remained upright as the ball rolled out of play.
Speaking exclusively to This Is Futbol, Halsey was asked what his opinion was on the incident and the need for players to go down in order to win a penalty.
In response, Halsey had this to say on the matter.
He said: “With Mane if he goes down there, he gets a penalty. There’s no doubt about that. I mean, the credibility issue is the referee isn’t going to give a penalty in that situation.
“If he goes to ground, that’s a penalty, and I was surprised that he didn’t go to ground in that situation because irrespective of if the games one and two-nil, what happens come the end of the season if Liverpool miss out on a goal for Champions League spot? You could go all the way back to that incident where he didn’t go down in the box.
“And for me, fair play to him, but if I was his manager, I have to say I would be saying, ‘Why are you not going down in that situation?’ And as I said, as a referee, I‘m sure that had he gone down, John Moss would have pointed to the spot because there’s definite contact.”
From our view, Halsey sums this one up perfectly. Mane deserves a lot of credit for not going down under Ampadu’s rash challenge and could have easily won a penalty had he taken a tumble.
We don’t want to see players throwing themselves to the ground under minimal contact, but when referees refuse to give spot-kicks unless a player hits the deck, it’s easy to understand why so many do it.