Tottenham's Andros Townsend promises to remove diving from his game
Townsend was shown a card for pretending to be tripped by Frank Lampard
Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Andros Townsend has vowed never to dive again after being shown a card in the explosive 1-1 stalemate against cross-town rivals Chelsea. Sky Sports reports.
The 22-year-old confessed that he expressed remorse for his behavior to referee Mike Dean after he faked being brought down by Frank Lampard in the home game against Chelsea.
Townsend agreed that he deserved nothing short of a yellow for his antics and is determined not to make the same mistake again.
“You make mistakes and that dive was a mistake. I apologised to the ref. I said to him at half-time that I thoroughly deserved it and hopefully I won’t do that again.
“I have got to kick it out of my game.”
The England international had previously come under fire when he was accused of diving in order to obtain a penalty against Swansea but the player said that the diving has not become a habit.
About the Chelsea incident, he said: “It goes so fast, I came inside and I saw (Lampard’s) leg and I went over and he pulled (his leg) out at the last minute.
“I didn’t have time to react to that. It’s sort of instinct. People said I dived against Swansea, but if you are running that fast, with any little touch you are going to go over.”
Townsend could appear for his country in the World Cup qualifiers against Montenegro and Poland due to Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain out with injuries.
Lampard, oh his part, spared Townsend from criticism due to the player’s young age.
“I don’t want to criticise too much,” the 35-year-old said. “He’s so quick that I was just pleased he fell over rather than carry on running.
“Maybe he was waiting for contact and it didn’t come and he fell over…but you get a yellow card and carry on. We don’t need to turn it into a diving campaign because that would get legs very quickly.
“He’s a great talent and he’s going to be a big player for Tottenham and for England.”