Garth Crooks issues harsh two-word Diogo Jota verdict after Liverpool penalty decision
BBC pundit Garth Crooks has become the latest pundit to criticise Diogo Jota's decision to go to ground to win a penalty during Liverpool's 4-2 win over Newcastle United on Monday evening.
Jota, attempting to round goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, was seemingly clipped by the Magpies' shot-stopper and fell down inside the box to earn the Reds their second spot-kick of the night. Replays of the incident suggested contact on the Reds' forward was minimal, though Dubravka himself acknowledged after the match he "felt the contact".
Gary Neville and Alan Shearer were far from impressed with Jota's actions and the same can also be said for Crooks, who has likened the Portuguese' to a 'dying swan' in the way he tumbled over.
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"The incentive for Liverpool to beat Newcastle was abundantly clear," wrote Crooks in his BBC Team of the Week column. "Liverpool would go clear at the top of the table and almost without anybody noticing.
"On the night Liverpool were awarded two penalties. The contact made on the two strikers involved, in separate incidents, was insufficient to bring either player down but both Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota both went to ground on their own volition. Jota going down having taken two steps after the contact was made.
"Twenty years ago you had to be assaulted in the box to get a penalty - now you only need to act like a dying swan," remarked the former Tottenham Hotspur forward. "Nevertheless [Mohamed] Salah was the difference between the two teams. He scored a goal in open play, missed a penalty, scored a penalty and was involved in two
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