'Cheating' Salah & Kane accused of manipulating referees

Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane have been called out for ‘cheating’ by ‘manipulating referees’ in Premier League games by Danny Murphy.

Murphy has branded Salah and Kane as cheats for their theatrical plays in penalty decisions, which he feels forces the referee into making a decision in their respective team’s favor.

The pair are among the Premier League’s most prolific marksmen and both added to their tallies for this season by scoring penalties over the weekend.

Salah bagged his seventh goal by scoring from the spot in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over West Ham. But the penalty decision itself was a questionable one, as there was minimal contact when the Egyptian fell to the ground from Arthur Masuaku’s challenge.

Kane, on the other hand, scored his sixth goal for Tottenham in Sunday’s 2-1 over Brighton after a VAR review deemed that Adam Lallana had fouled him.

“Callum Wilson, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, they all did it, and it’s something so many forwards do now which is using the inefficient refereeing and the rules to get penalties,” Murphy told talkSPORT.

“I don’t want to see it. They’re all doing it, they’re all cheating, they’re all manipulating the referee – you can use what word you want.”

The former Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder added: “And it’s not going to stop, because you don’t get penalties if you don’t go down!

“Actually, the only way you’re going to stop it is if defenders stop doing stupid tackles. You can’t go in for a tackle in the box, you’ve just got to stand your ground.

“But why can’t referees have the intelligence and common sense to see through it?

“They can see they’ve over-exaggerated, they’ve overdone it, they’ve dived and after the event, delayed, they’ve thrown themselves to the ground – don’t give the penalties!”