AUDIO: Watford forward Fernando Forestieri has been unfairly labelled a diver according to Gianfranco Zola

3:20pm Monday 11th March 2013 in Latest Sport

Picture: Holly Cant Picture: Holly Cant

Gianfranco Zola believes Fernando Forestieri and some of his Watford team-mates have gained an unfair reputation for diving.

Forestieri was booked for diving during Saturday's defeat to Blackpool and the Seasiders' manager Paul Ince believes the influx of foreign arrivals has led to it becoming a problem at the club.

"For sure they are putting a stamp on him," Zola replied when asked if Forestieri has been targeted.

"But not only him, many of my players. They have been accused of being like that [diving]. But I can show you his (Forestieri's) ankle if you don't trust me."

Zola was speaking after the 2-1 defeat at the weekend and you can hear his post-match press conference below.

You can hear Ince's press conference here and read some of Zola's views on the match here.

listen to ‘WatfordObserverSport talk about Zola press conference after Blackpool defeat’ on Audioboo

Comments(21)

CARDIFFHORN says...
3:49pm Mon 11 Mar 13

No spoke without fire, though on this occasion it was a foul and as shown by the picture the Blackpool player was apologising to FF!!!

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llloydwithathirdl says...
3:58pm Mon 11 Mar 13

CARDIFFHORN wrote:
No spoke without fire, though on this occasion it was a foul and as shown by the picture the Blackpool player was apologising to FF!!!
If he was going to dive surely he would have waited until he was in the penalty area.

FF is not a diver - Championship defenders just can't cope.

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The BestTrip2011 says...
3:59pm Mon 11 Mar 13

No-one likes us
No-one likes us
No-one likes us...we don't care
We are Watford, super Watford
We are Watford, super horns

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Poppet Bear says...
4:02pm Mon 11 Mar 13

It's a shame really but if these players didn't dive in the first place they would get the real penalties when they are due instead of trying to cheat in other matches

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PeteBogHorrorHornet says...
4:23pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Dear Mr Dyche
We love you very much for the work you did here over the previous few years.
Please continue that work by doing us a really huge favour this evening
Thank you
All the best
From all Watford supporters

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kingofpop says...
4:23pm Mon 11 Mar 13

What nonesense...when has Deeney ever dived? We have had plenty of suspect penalties awarded against us this season. What really annoys me is the ofgicials inconsistancy...chab
olah got a second booking for kicking the ball away yet a blackpool plauer did it twice and just got a talking to...also plenty of opposition players have gone to ground in tje box but i think i have seen just one booked for it this season

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andyhooked says...
4:26pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Sorry! I have to agree to some extent with CARDIFF HORN. PLayers do go down very easily it seems and perhaps part of this is that they are quick on their feet. This is not new for WFC. Dear Helgusson was also prone to dive a bit. Perhaps LD should have tried it rather than try and stay on his feet and give it his best go. But, with that ref. you would have needed someone to be shot before he would give us anything. Bad result but we have to move on. Hope Hull drop points tonight.

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lutondown says...
4:28pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Poppet Bear wrote:
It's a shame really but if these players didn't dive in the first place they would get the real penalties when they are due instead of trying to cheat in other matches
How daft, he rides most hatchet tackles. He never dived, he was fouled. Jesus, we have enough enemies without our own fans lining our players up.

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francowatford says...
4:38pm Mon 11 Mar 13

the likes of ff are two skillful and light on thier feet forn the championship

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lutondown says...
4:42pm Mon 11 Mar 13

francowatford wrote:
the likes of ff are two skillful and light on thier feet forn the championship
I agree. The lad is treated shoddily by refs and some of our own fans. Bring back the Hoofers, they lament so much over.
Jesus wept

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francowatford says...
4:50pm Mon 11 Mar 13

FF just needs to retain the ball better as when he loses it he busts his gut to get and this wastes his energy and makes are nerves even more fragile

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hornet88 says...
5:05pm Mon 11 Mar 13

francowatford wrote:
FF just needs to retain the ball better as when he loses it he busts his gut to get and this wastes his energy and makes are nerves even more fragile
Interesting you say that because if he doesn't chase back he would be labeled lazy by the other half of our fans. He's quite a good tackler and I can't remember him giving away too many fouls. Doesn't lose the ball all too often either. Shame he has this label as its really not true. I wish we could make a whole dvd of evidence from this season of all the rubbish we have had and send it to the football league. It wouldn't do much but they might just change their opinion of us ever so slightly.

On another note, a friend of mine said to me that the championship is full of s#%t refs, and I agree, but I don't think the premiership is without controversy either. They need to up the standard in general for refereeing especially in England!

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gloryhornet4 says...
7:19pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Like diving is new to the game. Seems that the human eye cannot pick up the genuine from the cheats.

I cannot understand how a ref can give a pen when slight contact results in a player goes completely flat on the turf. That is cheating too.

As for FF - maybe he dives, maybe he doesn't, but for a club that is 25 goals plus on goal diff WFC are not getting the decisions the stats say they should and maybe refs have not the mindset to give WFC anything that is not stonewall.

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StuWFC says...
7:31pm Mon 11 Mar 13

It was rich of Ince the other day to talk about diving when one of their players was rolling around on the floor for a couple minutes before the ref told him to get up.

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oxheypaul says...
9:05pm Mon 11 Mar 13

hornet88 wrote:
francowatford wrote: FF just needs to retain the ball better as when he loses it he busts his gut to get and this wastes his energy and makes are nerves even more fragile
Interesting you say that because if he doesn't chase back he would be labeled lazy by the other half of our fans. He's quite a good tackler and I can't remember him giving away too many fouls. Doesn't lose the ball all too often either. Shame he has this label as its really not true. I wish we could make a whole dvd of evidence from this season of all the rubbish we have had and send it to the football league. It wouldn't do much but they might just change their opinion of us ever so slightly. On another note, a friend of mine said to me that the championship is full of s#%t refs, and I agree, but I don't think the premiership is without controversy either. They need to up the standard in general for refereeing especially in England!
Good shout....sad bugger that I am (and it's quiet at work) I've been thru the fixtures and we seem to have had six pens this term, while the oppo has had nine.
Not what you would expect for a team in 2nd place and the highest scorers in the country.
About time Franco started shouting the odds a bit to even things up...

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oxheypaul says...
9:06pm Mon 11 Mar 13

gloryhornet4 wrote:
Like diving is new to the game. Seems that the human eye cannot pick up the genuine from the cheats. I cannot understand how a ref can give a pen when slight contact results in a player goes completely flat on the turf. That is cheating too. As for FF - maybe he dives, maybe he doesn't, but for a club that is 25 goals plus on goal diff WFC are not getting the decisions the stats say they should and maybe refs have not the mindset to give WFC anything that is not stonewall.
Sorry, meant to quote this post to back up my penalty conspiracy theory.

New technology baffles middle-aged dimwit.....

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3Lions4Ever says...
10:34pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Let's forget Blackpool. It's done and dusted. With Hull back in pole position tonight we need to focus on catching them and not rehashing Saturday.

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Theresonly1richardjobson says...
11:30pm Mon 11 Mar 13

PeteBogHorrorHornet wrote:
Dear Mr Dyche
We love you very much for the work you did here over the previous few years.
Please continue that work by doing us a really huge favour this evening
Thank you
All the best
From all Watford supporters
Thanks Mr Ince AND Mr Dyche for your favours this last few days!! Hull City fan in Blackpool, UTT!!

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lutondown says...
6:33am Tue 12 Mar 13

Theresonly1richardjo
bson wrote:
PeteBogHorrorHornet wrote:
Dear Mr Dyche
We love you very much for the work you did here over the previous few years.
Please continue that work by doing us a really huge favour this evening
Thank you
All the best
From all Watford supporters
Thanks Mr Ince AND Mr Dyche for your favours this last few days!! Hull City fan in Blackpool, UTT!!
And that folks was the dross we watched in the main last year.
Ugly football, at it's worse. ( Burnley, not Hull).
Hull certainly know how to ease a game out.

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kingofpop says...
8:04am Tue 12 Mar 13

6 penalties is more than we have had in the last 2 seasons, i seem to remember cardiff getting over 10 a few years back. It's a shame we havent been at our best of late, mainly at home but other teams seem capable of making subs that change games as palace, wolves, blackpool and even derby's almost worked. As i have said before we cant expect to boss games for 90 minutes but of late we have'nt killed the game and we sit back too deep, then we cant hold the ball once we have it and it's happend when we have had our best midfield or the back up one saturday...maybe zola needs to tweak a few things as maybe we have been a little found out? Still this season has exceeded ecpectations by a long way but as football fans often do, i think what if....just by beating teams we have been winning against would see us top and thats just games lately.

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corbindallas says...
9:02am Tue 12 Mar 13

Lets face it when it comes to refs Watford have never really been given a fair rub of the green (Stuart Attwell be the most infamous). I know a lot of clubs feel the same so guess the standard of referees is poor across the board and it is obviously down to lack of candidates thus the dross are not dropped and not penalised enough for poor performances. Also with the influx of unknown names to the game you can't help but think that some refs may be bias and label them as cheaters/trippers unfairly. Next year we will face Premiership referees who will be used to foriegn players so hopefully we will stand a better field but then again little Watford stand no chance for fair decisions aggainst the Man U's and Arsenals.

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