Tony Pulis hits out at Samir Nasri over penalty ‘dive’

Stoke manager Tony Pulis has called for the PFA to clamp down on diving in football – and appeared to accuse Samir Nasri of conning the referee to win a penalty during Arsenal’s clash with Tottenham last week.

Pulis, whose side came from a goal down to beat Newcastle 2-1 at St James’ Park on Sunday, believes more action should be taken against those guilty of simulation and all but singled out the Arsenal midfielder as a recent example after the Frenchman won a spot kick for the Gunners during their 4-1 Carling Cup win at White Hart Lane.

“I think we’ve got to have a bit more honesty within the group of players because that puts enormous pressure on referees and I don’t think it’s right and I don’t think enough is said about it,” said Pulis.

“I watched the game between Tottenham and Arsenal and a player goes down in the penalty box who’s not touched – and it’s a penalty. For me, someone’s got to start talking about that as well, never mind the challenges.

“It’s always been a competitive game in this country. Crowds like to come and see comptetitive players and competitive teams. The problem we’ve got at the moment is that we’re almost taking that away and we shouldn’t do that. What we should do is actually isolate people who are trying to con referees.

“The PFA have a responsibility to do that because they’re actually conning another member of the union.”

Earlier this month Pulis demanded an apology from Gunners boss Arsene Wenger after the Frenchman claimed Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross were dragging the game towards rugby by allegedly impeding Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes earlier in the season.

“We have been highlighted with one or two other clubs for supposedly being over-physical, and there are other aspects to our game that need to be addressed, and that is certainly, for me, one of them,” added Pulis.