Moyes slams Pip for 'diving'

, 29 October, 47comments  |  Jump to most recent
Phil Neville was the subject of a half-time rollicking from Everton manager David Moyes after the Toffees captain was booked for diving in the Merseyside derby

Coming into the game, much of the focus had been on the diving antics of Luis Suarez, the Uruguayan singled out for criticism by David Moyes, but it was the unlikely figure of Neville who picked up a yellow for simulation.

Neville tried to win a free kick for the Blues when he sensed an impending challenge from Daniel Agger but referee Andre Marriner saw through the rise.

The veteran midfielder admitted that his manager gave him a half-time dressing down and vowed on Twitter that he wouldn't be doing it again.

I apologised after game for my dive got a rollicking off gaffa won't happen again-end of!!!
“It was a stupid thing to do,” Neville admits. “I don't often find myself in that position and I thought Daniel Agger was going to take me out.

“But I got a good kick up the backside at half-time as I couldn't commit to tackles in the second half. I'll take the rollicking and I won't do it again, that's for sure.”

His manager refused to let his skipper off lightly. “I said to him it's completely wrong, you don't do that,” he said.

Quotes or other material sourced from Daily Mirror



Reader Comments (47)

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John Crook
1 Posted 29/10/2012 at 13:55:04
What an utter disgrace that was from our 'club captain'. At the very least, he should be stripped of the armband and dropped from the first team despite the lack of numbers in the midfield department. Our so called Captain has just embarrassed the integrity of the club. That sort of behaviour can be expected at Anfield and a few other grounds but not here. I hope he never plays for the club again! I will never forget this...
Patrick Murphy
2 Posted 29/10/2012 at 13:56:59
I would have loved Neville to have done that playing under Ferguson, he would have been packing his bags this morning.

If Moyes wants to make a statement, whilst at the same time, edge Neville out of the team, he should strip him of the captains armband with immediate effect.

You cannot have your captain for whatever reason undermining the manager and worse still giving the media and LFC a get out of jail free card.

Sorry, it is just not good enough.

Matt Traynor
3 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:02:21
Patrick #062 "I would have loved Neville to have done that playing under Ferguson, he would have been packing his bags this morning."

How so? You telling me Man U don't have their fair share of divers? Nani, Young, Welbeck? At Man U he'd have got a hammering off Fergie for not being convincing enough. Ex Man U players have admitted that they were encouraged to dive to win pens / get red cards for the opposition.

Patrick Murphy
4 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:08:18
It's not about the diving, If SAF had briefed a particular aspect to the press and his captain had done exactly what he had been briefing against, he certainly at the very least wouldn't have remained as captain.

I don't disagree with you regarding his "win at all costs" mentality which has turned football into the less than beautiful game that we see today.
Jim Knightley
5 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:17:27
Lol Patrick, United have had a history of players diving...Too much rests on this league, and diving will always be part of the game.

The nature of diving is itself subjective...take Torres yesterday. He was clipped, that is certain. But it is also pretty certain, that that clip would not have caused him to fall over. So did he dive? If Jelavic is clipped in the area, how ever little force, I want him to go down. And when players don't go down when they clipped, and play on, referees often don't give a penalty, because no referee wants to give a penalty.

Neville fell over yesterday...it was foolish, and a little bit of funny, and I have no idea how he has embarrassed the integrity of our club. He is not a repeat offender; he made one error of judgement. In every match fouls will be made to gain an advantage, players will argue over every foul and attempt to manipulate the referee and players will be unjustly taken out etc etc, all as a means to obtain an advantage. Diving is just another means to take an advantage, and is used by the media, to demonize certain vogue figures. Welbeck dived in a match in the previous qualifiers...it was wholly obvious, but was completely ignored by the commentators. If it had been Ronaldo, we've have been subjected to a 5minute discussion on the problems of diving, and numerous follow up articles. The recent media fervor re. simulation, would better be directed at the problematic treatment of racism in football.

Steve Barr
6 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:17:52
I agree with Matt @#64.

SAF, and most of the other apologists managing Premier League teams would have tried to make excuses for the dive.

We see it after every game in some form or other, particularly when a so called top team is beaten by one of the so called lesser teams. It's always that they were unlucky, bad decisions against them etc. etc...never the opposition played well today and beat us. Graceless beings these managers!

I'm actually impressed that Moyes publicly blasted Neville and that Neville put his hands up and took both barrels without making excuses.

That type of behaviour should ensure our clubs integrity. You know it won't happen again.

Paul Thompson
7 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:22:21
'Utter disgrace', 'strip him of his armband' - give it a rest will you, or is just anohter excuse for Neville bashing. Completely out of character and he manned up and was bollocked by the manager. How many other players/clubs would that happen tin? That's the ultimate story and it reflects well on Neville and Moyes. I would be astonished if we ever saw a dive again from the player, unlike some we can think of inside and outside the club.
Tony Doran
8 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:25:05
Peeps don't get carried away in all this media shitzer. Diving has always been a part of the game. If it's your team and it wins you the game great, but when it goes against you it's not right. Jelly goes down easy so does Pienarr Anichibe and now Neville. What people don't like is players that Dive and are Racist and spit and Ugly and take beak and beat up DJ's and take bribes and a hole load of other stuff they do at the Dark Side.
Oliver Molloy
9 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:30:02
I thought agger pushed him in the back!
Mike Gaynes
10 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:24:56
Strip the armband? For that one stupid moment? Never heard anything so daft in my life.

I'm with Steve. Both Moyes and Pip handled it properly and in appropriate Everton style. Foot up arse, apology made, move on. As Jim says, monkey noises are a far bigger problem in world football right now than diving.

But Jim, I think you -- and the ref -- were mistaken about Torres. If he doesn't go down, that "clip" would have been a pretty ugly studs-first whack on the shin.

Alan Brown
11 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:26:12
I don't agree that Neville has damaged the integrity of the club. He did a stupid thing, admitted to it, and by relating to the media the rollicking he got for it, has shown that this club has integrity. The condemnation from the fans also shows what this club is about. I think further punishment would be too much. I do hope there would be the same reaction if it was any of the players and not just Neville.

I think there is a difference between going down easily after being clipped and going over after not being touched at all. The first one forces the ref into making a decision. The second one is blatant cheating and should be retrospectively punished by the powers that be. If cheats got a ban they would soon stop it.

Mike Allison
12 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:45:01
John (061) are you trying to be funny or are you actually mental?

Actually, in the way both Neville and Moyes have since reacted to the moment, I'd say the difference between us and the RS has never been clearer.

Ray Roche
13 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:51:16
I agree, Mike, that is the difference between us and them. Dogleish and now Brenda have both tried to excuse the little shit's antics and protect him from any criricism that deservedly comes his way. Moyes (and Neville) have owned up straight away and apologised. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in the dressing room when Moyes let rip...
Nick Entwistle
14 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:54:46
You could excuse the moment in the intensity of a derby match, but then again this is captainPhil Neville the week Moyes went very public on diving.

He should be given a fine so to set a standard.

Difference between the two clubs is that Moyes will give a half time rollicking, where as BR will say better luck next time.

Nick Entwistle
15 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:59:58
PS, no toffeeweb thread on the Andy Van Der Meyde article in The Shun?
Andrew Ellams
16 Posted 29/10/2012 at 14:58:47
I agree with Oliver, there was definitely a hand on the back but the amount pressure actually applied is probably questionable.

Still if you compare that and the Torres disgrace yesterday with some of the antics of that weasal across the park and Bale this season and last, it is still laughable.

Paul Traill
17 Posted 29/10/2012 at 15:03:27
Moyes has previously mentioned that divers should receive an automatic one-match ban if caught diving . Therefore, I believe Moyes and Everton for that matter, would generate some excellent PR if Neville is left out of his squad for Fulham next Saturday (you'd hope we could cope without him in that one) and that Moyes mentions in next Friday's press conference that Neville is banned from the game due to an internal club rule that anyone caught diving is banned by the club for the next game.

It would speak volumes I think and really help keep the press and media a bit more onside...just a thought.

Brent Stephens
18 Posted 29/10/2012 at 15:03:12
Agree with the 2 Mikes here, a stupid thing for Pip to do, he got booked rightly, Moyes blasted him, rightly. End of story. You don't elbow a guy out for one error of judgement.
Mark Tanton
19 Posted 29/10/2012 at 15:10:40
Just as embarassing as his dive was his total inability to do anything with the ball in such a promising position, surrounded by blue shirts. He chose to go down because he didn't know what else to do, as there wasn't a sideways ball on.

Having said that, he was immense against Man Utd in August and he was very good yesterday. I am starting to think that, at his age, he should play more sparingly, and in these kind of blood and thunder games.

Ian Barker
20 Posted 29/10/2012 at 15:08:20
on AVDM- he does not come across well- if anyone wonders why Moyes is ultra cautious on a certain other of the walls dutch winger then this tells you why.

Ray Roche
21 Posted 29/10/2012 at 15:21:05
What's AVDM been saying? I couldn't find his article.
Ian Barker
22 Posted 29/10/2012 at 15:24:33
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4613416/My-life-of-booze-and-pills-at-Everton-by-Andy-van-der-Meyde.html

Essentially says how he took the club for a ride for a few years more interested in girls and booze than football.

Tony J Williams
23 Posted 29/10/2012 at 15:49:44
Cheeker fecker even tried to suggest his ale problem was because of his daughter's illness. What a gobshite!
Nick Entwistle
24 Posted 29/10/2012 at 15:47:16
Decided to buy a Ferrari, bang a stripper, snort her coke, refuse to train, steal medication, train while high, and have the temerity to call out the club captain on telling the manager.

I had some sympathy towards the guy with his my daughter my daughter stories, but I get the impression it was the excuse rather than the cause.

Russ Quinlan
25 Posted 29/10/2012 at 15:45:42
I actually thought it was quite funny, him trying to do a convincing dive! Aggers reaction just made it all the funnier. Pip couldnt dive to save his life no wonder Agger was laughing!
Ray Roche
26 Posted 29/10/2012 at 16:34:42
Thanks, Ian. What an arsehole.

AVDM, not you...

Christopher Kelly
27 Posted 29/10/2012 at 16:33:56
Pip should be at RB or out of the team entirely. I get so much stick for him from my mates...

The Agger reaction was priceless though. funny/embarrassing moment. He must have been thinking "Really old man?...Really???" lol

Eugene Ruane
28 Posted 29/10/2012 at 16:53:37
Neville should be stripped of the armband and dropped immediately - disgraceful!

(nothing to do with the dive like, I think I posted the same after QPR)

Paul Ferry
29 Posted 29/10/2012 at 17:19:33
Pip is apparently Moyesy's bitch, so he'll be okay...
Domino Darkley
30 Posted 29/10/2012 at 17:46:33
I think this Neville "diving" thing is a get up.

IMO he never really dived, but to protest about it afterwards would only make him look foolish given the context of the Suarez controversy.

If you look at the incident, he was actually pushed over by the RS defender.

I just think his mea culpa afterwards was part of the excellent PR which saw EFC claim the moral high ground after the Rat Boy's "dive" at Mr. Moyes.

Graham Mockford
31 Posted 29/10/2012 at 18:41:33
John #061 that is either one of the cleverest wind ups I have read on here, in as much it is just about suitably bonkers enough to be a real opinion on here

or if it is for real ,as Mike points out, you are a serious mentalist.

Brian Waring
32 Posted 29/10/2012 at 18:50:20
You lads saying Neville was pushed need to take another look. Neville did get shoved by Agger, but he had already dived before the shove, Agger was pissed off with him and thats why he shoved him when he had already gone to ground.

I remember Jags getting a 10/10 for his dive to win a pen, I think it was against Villa? That was swept under the carpet on here.

Also, just because Neville apologised doesn't make it all okay, it just makes us out to be hypocrits, slagging everyone else off for diving. At the end of the day, whether it was his first time or not, he still cheated.

Ray Roche
33 Posted 29/10/2012 at 19:00:38
You're right Brian, Neville has been a prize dick, especially after Moyes comments, but please don't put him in the same category as Sewerez.
James Stewart
34 Posted 29/10/2012 at 19:05:42
Just retire already
Jamie Barlow
35 Posted 29/10/2012 at 19:11:02
Are we not allowed to slag other players off for diving now?

It was a moment of madness and totally out of character.

It doesn't make me a hypocrite to slag other players off who cheat week in week out.

Brian Waring
36 Posted 29/10/2012 at 19:22:46
Wouldn't compare him to Suarez Ray, Suarez is a serial diver and I do believe it will be a one-off from Neville, just so pissed off with him. It just means if we try and take the moral high ground about diving, this incident will be thrown back in our faces and make us look like hypocrites.
Brian Waring
37 Posted 29/10/2012 at 19:31:13
Jamie, I agree, it was out of character, that doesn't make it okay though, it was still cheating to gain an advantage.
Graham Mockford
38 Posted 29/10/2012 at 19:30:31
Brian #174
And the moral is don't try and take the moral high ground. You will be surrounded by charlatans, phonies and assorted fuckwits.
Ciarán McGlone
39 Posted 29/10/2012 at 19:39:01
I've seen him do that before... at Everton.

However, frankly I thought it was hilarious. A classic piece of postmodern irony.

Comedy gold.

Christopher Kelly
40 Posted 29/10/2012 at 22:30:52
Sure it's pathetic and in some ways makes it worse to apologize and bring more attention to it. I can't remember any of those Italian or Spanish pricks apologizing for getting people sent off.

Jamie Tulacz
41 Posted 29/10/2012 at 22:56:17
Thing is Neville dives, gets immediately slated by Moyes, obviously ashamed, apologises immediately in his post-match press conference. Never seen that from them lot, not once, not least from our Uruguayan friend..

And how that man even remained on the field by the end is a mystery to me, after 2 tackles which warranted at least a yellow each. All very well taking the moral high ground about the disallowed goal, but he shouldn't have even been on the pitch by that point!

Ken Crowther
42 Posted 30/10/2012 at 08:40:31
Mike #081

I doubt he's even got a funny bone - he's just a nut-case.

By the way, there's so much "moral high ground" in this thread, I'm going down the mountain.

Sean O'Brien
43 Posted 30/10/2012 at 14:22:48
I agree with James 222 - Dont understand all the fuss. Neville was completely out of order but at least he had the decency to admit it and not try making an excuse or deny it. Most others would try to suggest they stumbled or some other lie. It was also refreshing for him to say he was rollicked by the Manager for doing it.
James Martin
44 Posted 30/10/2012 at 14:30:55
Pip's only crime was he got caught, was this the worse dive on show in that derby? Absolutely not. Gerrard dived for the free kick at the end, as did Sterling for the free kick for their second goal. I can understand why he did it, at the time we were getting nothing from the ref and it seemed that whenever we made a tackle we got a yellow but they could get away with whatever they wanted. it was in a good position, if the ref buys it then baines may have put it in and we'd have a better chance of winning the game. Shady and dishonest yes but we all no that there's no such thing as a fair fight against that lot, they have mastered every form of footballing dark art under the sun so it was good to see an Everton player without the usual naivety taking a more machieavellian approach to the game and tyring at all costs to win. We can polish our halos the other 36 game sof the year.
Paul Foster
45 Posted 30/10/2012 at 19:38:52
"I would have loved Neville to have done that playing under Ferguson, he would have been packing his bags this morning." (Patrick Murphy)

That's a joke, right? The manager who has bought and praised Ronaldo, Nani, Berbatov and Hernandez?!

Ferguson has NEVER punished one of his players for diving. And unlike Moyes, he has NEVER come out after a game and publicly criticised one of his players for diving.

Ludicrous comment, Patrick!

Patrick Murphy
46 Posted 30/10/2012 at 19:57:30
It wasn't in respect of diving, it was in the undermining of the manager that I was referring to.
Ciarán McGlone
47 Posted 30/10/2012 at 23:20:55
So, Patrick...

Has Rio packed his bags yet for not wearing the Kick it Out shirt?


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