Watford forward Troy Deeney has sensationally revealed how he believes referees can be “influenced” in Premier League matches and how he and his team-mates targeted Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha in their side’s 2-1 victory last month.
Zaha has recently spoken out regarding the unfair attention he has been subject to week in week out in the Premier League, asking for referees to protect him from dangerous challenges coming from various opposition.
During Palace’s last trip to Vicarage Road, Zaha was lucky to escape without extensive injury after a nasty challenge from Watford’s Etienne Capoue, which was only deemed to be worthy of a yellow card by referee Anthony Taylor.
Deeney has now revealed that not only did Watford target the talented 25-year-old, but that he believes referees can be “influenced” into making certain decisions.
Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live (via the Daily Mail), when asked if referees can be influenced, Deeney replied: “Clearly!”
The Watford striker discussed the tactics deployed by the Hornets and how they took it in turns to target the Ivory Coast international in a bid to avoid getting booked.
“If you were playing against him, you stop him. You take it in turns of kicking him. I know no one wants to hear that, but you go; ‘You hit this time, you hit him the next time’
“You don’t have the same player tackle him because you know you’re gonna get booked.
“It’s difficult, but also as a captain I’d be the first… if we were playing him this week and he’d just said those comments I’d have been like: “Ref, don’t you be the first one to give him a pen. Don’t you start going easy on him.
“You can then flip it and start being more psychological with the referees.”
Deeney then went into greater detail regarding how they tried to use Zaha’s emotional attachment to football against him.
The post Referee’s can be “influenced” – Troy Deeney discusses teams targeting Wilfried Zaha appeared first on Squawka News.
From Squawka NewsSquawka News https://ift.tt/2xLyEVX
No comments:
Post a Comment