Benitez: Video evidence would be useful
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has backed the Football Association’s push to have divers punished but he questioned the effectiveness of video evidence.
The FA have approached FIFA to ask whether they would consider changing the rules to allow them to take retrospective action on players who feign injury or try to win penalties or get opponents sent off.
Benitez welcomed the move but said, in the first instance, the initiative must come from managers.
“It is clear. We must be in agreement but the question is how to do it? It is not easy. If you have a solution maybe we can see but the solution is very difficult to find,” he said.
“The managers have to tell all their players not to dive and play football but sometimes you cannot control it.
“And sometimes it is very difficult to decide who is diving and who is not.
“Sometimes it is very clear and then you can say something but if it is not clear you have to be careful and have to analyse.
“In some cases video evidence would be useful. But you can see things from four or five different angles and three people can say different things.
“I am in agreement it is necessary to do something but the first thing is to say to the players ‘Don’t dive’ and after, if you have clear evidence, maybe you could do something.”
Bolton manager Sam Allardyce, a long-time advocate of the use of technology, suggested videos could be reviewed as the game is taking place but his Liverpool counterpart dismissed this idea as too time-consuming.
“It is not easy. You could be talking for half an hour,” he argued.
“I don’t have the solution but it is not so easy when people say the video will prove it. Be careful, because you need to analyse a lot of things before people decide.”
