Noni Madueke deserves retrospective punishment as Arsenal star accused of cheating vs Brentford
Noni Madueke was fortunate not to have his name taken by the referee during Arsenal’s win over Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that John Brooks missed an act of simulation from the talented winger on Thursday, 12 February.
Both sets of supporters were left frustrated by the referee’s performance, with a lot of noise made when Viktor Gyokeres was booked in the opening 30 minutes for a trip on Yehor Yarmoliuk.
After 37 minutes, Madueke was absolutely certain that the Gunners should have been given a chance to take the lead from the penalty spot, only for his claim to be waved away by the referee.
It appeared that Rico Henry applied too much pressure, but replays would suggest that he went down far too easily. At least, that’s what Hackett believes.
Noni Madueke sparks calls for a review panel after contentious incident
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the incident, the former referee said: “This is a clear act of simulation, attempting to deceive the referee, who, in fairness, did not buy the dive.
“However, referee John Brooks, at this point, should have issued the appropriate sanction of a yellow card. If referees are not going to apply a sanction for these incidents, we will continue to see growth.
“I will continue to say that, where no sanction is applied, I would like an independent review panel to investigate and review these acts and issues retrospective action.”
Of course, Madueke would eventually go on to open the scoring with a fantastic header, but had he picked up his early booking, Mikel Arteta might have rung the changes much earlier.
Madueke is beginning to create a bad reputation for himself
This is not the first time that Madueke’s name has been spoken about in a negative light.
Back in September, Hackett hammered the Arsenal winger for diving against Andorra, with the former PGMOL chief exploding at the “disease” that is simulation in football.
Many Premier League fans also accuse Bukayo Saka of the same thing. Given that VAR also waved away the penalty claim, there is no leg for Madueke to stand on.
The only way for the officials to crack down on diving is to punish it, but with Brooks failing to act appropriately on this occasion, he is going to keep trying to buy penalties.