Djed Spence has been slammed for diving during Tottenham's 2-1 defeat against Liverpool, with the Spurs defender going down in the first half following Conor Bradley's challenge
Ex-Premier League referee Keith Hackett has called on the authorities to slap a retrospective ban on simulation, after Ian Wright accused Tottenham's Djed Spence of diving during Saturday's 2-1 defeat against Liverpool.
The incident occurred in the 45th minute when Spence made a marauding run from inside his own half before going down inside the Liverpool box after appearing to be caught by Conor Bradley. Replays, however, showed there was minimal contact and no penalty was awarded, much to the frustration of Spurs and Thomas Frank.
Delivering his verdict on the decision not to award Tottenham a spot-kick, Wright told Premier League Productions: " You can see the other player behind him. He's got no chance of getting that ball on the other side. So he's just knocked it inside and just wanted contact and got it. It's a blatant dive for me."
Now, Hackett, a former FIFA listed official, has demanded a suspension to be set on players caught diving during matches, with Spence the latest to be called out. Speaking to Tottenham News, Hackett said: " Sadly, going to ground to deceive the referee by an act of simulation is a regular occurrence in the modern game.
"It will continue if referees fail to sanction. I do believe that the authorities need to consider retrospective punishment for acts of simulation."
Tottenham battled hard against Liverpool on Saturday but it wasn't enough for them to get a result from the game. Indeed, Frank's side ended up losing 2-1, having played more than an hour with 10 players.
It was an even contest up until Xavi Simons was given a red card in the 33rd minute for a late tackle on Virgil van Dijk. The game stayed close up until Liverpool turned on the gas after half-time, with Alexander Isak putting the Reds ahead with a fine finish before Hugo Ekitike doubled their advantage shortly after.
Spurs, who were reduced to nine men in second-half stoppage-time as Cristian Romero was shown his marching orders, pulled a goal back as Richarlison found the net, but it proved too little too late.
"I think overall it was a good performance tonight, proud of the players and the team and how they responded," Frank said post-match.
"I actually think the first 30 was also good from us and how we responded to setbacks through the game, something we have been working very hard on, because that is the biggest thing the best teams need to do.
"How do we respond to setbacks during a game because the best teams deal with it and move on and keep going, stick to the plan, we talked about it before, structure and everything. Today we did that excellently. There was great personality and character in the team."
Next up for Tottenham is a difficult-looking trip to Crystal Palace next Sunday. They then travel to Frank's former club Brentford on New Year's Day before entertaining Sunderland at home.