West Ham were rocked last month when attacking midfielder Manuel Lanzini was slapped with a two-match ban for deceiving a match official during their 3-0 win away at Stoke, but an explanation has been published.
The incident occurred in the 18th minute when Lanzini went down under a challenge from Erik Pieters which referee Graham Scott awarded a penalty for despite the protests of the Stoke defenders. Mark Noble slotted home the spot kick as the Hammers cruised to a 3-0 victory, with Lanzini providing the assist for the second and third goals.
Upon review, the midfielder was charged with deceiving a match official and handed a two-match ban, which he and the club contested but their appeal was disregarded.
As quoted by Sky Sports, the independent commission, comprised of Gareth Farrelly, Stuart Ripley and Paul Raven have revealed why they decided to hand the playmaker a two-match ban.
In the incident in question, the player whilst running at speed in the opponent’s penalty area took a final touch with his right foot away from the defender.
It was at this point that he started to go to ground in an exaggerated manner, which included throwing his arms into the air in an unnatural way, before any contact with the opposing defender.
In that split second he dived, before the contact from the defender who had in fact withdrawn from the challenge.
It is not disputed that there was contact but the player anticipated this, dived towards the defender to initiate the contact and in reacting the way he did, successfully deceived the match official.
Lanzini became only the second player to be retrospectively punished for a dive since the new rules were put in place over the summer, following Everton’s Oumar Niasse for a similar incident during the Toffee’s 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace.
