Speaking after overseeing his Tottenham Hotspur side's 5-0 win against Swansea City at White Hart Lane, Mauricio Pochettino revealed that he will not caution Dele Alli for diving as he insisted English players dive as much as foreign players.
Alli was heavily criticised for his role in the penalty that lead to opening goal of the game as everyone felt that he had conned the referee by diving. Harry Kane then scored the penalty that lead to the team finally breaking down a stubborn Swansea side.
Pochettino won't caution Alli for dive
It is also not the first time that Alli has been criticised for winning soft fouls, but Pochettino insisted that he will not reprimand the midfielder for going to ground too easily.
Pochettino said that "it's too difficult to advise" Dele for his role in the penalty as you "cannot recreate in the future the same situation" so, therefore "it's too difficult" to tell him what to do. The Argentinian added that "Dele is how he is" and "I didn't talk with him" yet about the situation.
The Spurs boss continued to say that Dele "might say that he fell down but didn't mean to dive" or that it "wasn't his intention" to go ground but he felt that he was about to fouled but didn't allow the contact but for now "it's difficult" to ask him what happened exactly.
Pochettino recalls Owen dive 15 years ago
All the attention that is currently on Alli is unfair according to Pochettino as he feels that all English players dived and went on to talk about the moment Michael Owen dived when he dangled out a left leg but didn't touch him 15 years ago.
Pochettino said "it was 15 years ago when Owen dived" so the key thing to remember is that "English football is not always fair play" because as he can recall "Owen jumped like he was in a swimming pool" against him when he wasn't touched.
Pochettino went on to say that "today football is more global" as it is more like "European football" now that you have loads of "people that to cheat always."