Quote Originally Posted by ramAnag View Post
But obviously too old to remember how even the finest of touches to a player stepping off one foot and moving at pace can lead to him being brought down.
Did he make the most of it? Probably. Was contact made with his foot at full pace? Definitely...and therefore it was a penalty.
The build up is irrelevant to whether or not the ref should have awarded a pen. But it's interesting you use the expression 'make the most of it'. That's one of a family of modern day euphemisms to rationalise gamesmanship in football. Others are 'made a meal of it', 'simulation', 'take one for the team', 'professional foul', etc. They all amount to the same thing...cheating. Pure and simple. But such behaviour is not confined to Derby players, it's all part of the modern game. The sad thing is that during the course of the game we the fans (including me) demand the ref give our team decisions in our favour even though it's patently obvious he's been conned.