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The penalty appeal just before half-time. Martin Rickett
Peno

TV3's pundits got caught up in moral knots over this Celtic penalty appeal last night

Should Patrick Roberts have gone down?

MANCHESTER CITY AND Celtic played out a 1-1 draw in the Uefa Champions League last night but there was one moment in the first half of the tie that sparked an interesting debate among the TV3 analysts.

On-loan Celtic goalscorer Patrick Roberts was bearing down on goal against his parent club when City defender Gael Clichy appeared to throw his arms around the forward and impinge his run.

All three panelists, Kevin Kilbane, Neil Lennon and Brian Kerr, agreed that it was a penalty in principle but there was some division regarding what Roberts should have done to provoke the referee to point to the spot.

Unsurprisingly, the question of morality involved in diving, fueled much of the debate with Kilbane putting forward the theory that without going to ground, the offended player has little chance of earning a penalty.

Former Ireland manager Brian Kerr and Lennon, however, said Roberts should not have needed to resort to that measure, as they felt there was sufficient evidence to award the penalty.

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Kerr said: ”You shouldn’t have to go to ground to get a penalty. The rules say you can’t pull someone or drag someone. Do you get penalised for being honest in the game?

“Why have they got six officials? The referee was in a great position but the guy behind the goal is very close to it (as well), he should have spotted it for me.”

“You expect everyone to play fairly. It annoys you when people cheat in the game if you’re an honest manager.

“I was surprised at (Mauricio) Pochettino the other day saying that when he was in Argentina – I wasn’t surprised at what he said, I was surprised at how he said it. He said they use to practice cheating in the game. Is he looking at his own players and thinking that they don’t cheat enough now?

“A manager should always be honest and say, ‘I don’t want my players to cheat, I don’t want my players diving.’”

Kilbane retorted that players have no choice but to go to ground, although he did say it with a heavy heart:

“If he goes over, he’s given the penalty. It’s almost as if now, you have to make the referees make the decision. I don’t necessarily agree with it but that’s the way it’s going. You have to make the referees and the officials make the decisions for you.

“The referees can’t see it, unless a player has thrown himself over, then he isn’t going to get a penalty, that’s the point of the matter.”

Lennon seemed to interpret the situation in a similar way to Kerr, questioning if there was even enough force in the tug, to bring Roberts to the ground.

“If he goes down, does that make it more of a penalty? No, not really because he’s been pulled back. It’s so blatant, you won’t see a more blatant penalty than that. He (Gael Clichy) has no intention other than to pull Patrick Roberts back and it’s in the box.”

But when presenter Tommy Martin inquires about what the panelists would do if they were the manager of a player in the same situation, Lennon had a somewhat contradictory answer for him.

“If you don’t get the penalty, then (you say), “Why didn’t you go down?”

Kerr tentatively agreed with that notion but added, “You might say that, but you don’t really mean it.”

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