Johnson should have had eight penalties, Hackett concedes | News | Guardian Unlimited Football

Johnson should have had eight penalties, Hackett concedes | News | Guardian Unlimited Football:

"Keith Hackett says Everton's England striker Andrew Johnson may have been harshly treated in being denied several penalties by referees in recent weeks. The admission followed extensive talks with Everton's manager, David Moyes.

Johnson has endured incessant claims this season that he dives, a legacy of similar criticisms during his time with Crystal Palace, and Everton believe that reputation now precedes him. Their disquiet prompted the discussions with Hackett, and the head of the Professional Game Match Officials Board studied video evidence - supplied by the club - of 10 appeals before conceding that the striker seemed unfortunate in eight of them.

'It seems that with Andrew Johnson's pace and ability to go across defenders he has not been getting some of the penalties and free-kicks that he was due,' Hackett said yesterday. 'I want our referees to go on to the pitch with a blank slate and no preconceived ideas. Maybe it's been down to poor positioning or a lack of help from the assistant referees.'"

Thank you Mr Hackett.

This is good :

AJ again

BBC SPORT | Football | Premiership | Johnson insists he is not a diver

Good on Everton for pressing this point. Johnson get's goal-side and defenders start pulling him all over the place. Fair enough he goes down easy but he's getting fouled plain and simple.

A chap on ToffeeWeb made an interesting point...he reckons the instant furore over the Johnson thing was orchestrated by Chelsea to get onto the back of the ref. It makes sense...it was an honest tumble. The defender is behind Johnson shoving him whilst the goal-keeper is flying at his legs...and all of a sudden Mourinho is going mental. They were waiting for Johnson to go to ground so they could all cry foul and get the officials under pressure. Sneaky gets.