Martin O’Neill says Everton have a ‘fantastic’ player who can be a terrible diver

Add as preferred source on Google

Diving is one of the most controversial topics in football over the past 20 years.

For decades, diving has become more and more a part of the game, and now, it’s largely accepted that a player will go down in the penalty area under the slightest bit of contact.

Speaking on The Football Authorities Podcast, Martin O’Neill has been discussing the rise of diving in the game.

O’Neill says he never used to kick up much of a fuss when his players dived, but he did have to have a word with Ashley Young during his time at Aston Villa.

• READ MORE: Player Everton sold for just £23m has now been nominated for the Ballon d’Or

Martin O’Neill discusses Ashley Young’s diving

O’Neill spoke about his time working with Young.

“If one of my players dived and my team got a penalty I don’t think I would be saying to overturn it,” O’Neill said.

“I must admit that a couple of times when I was managing Ashley Young, and Young was fantastic for me, he was fantastic, but sometimes he overdid it. Sometimes he was punished by referees when he shouldn’t have been, but other times he made a meal of things. I had a word with him in private more than anything else.”

Ashley Young has changed

Ashley Young is now a grizzled veteran full-back for Everton, but cast your mind back 10 years or so, and he was public enemy number one in the Premier League.

Young was having so many articles written about his diving antics at the time, especially at Manchester United.

Young’s game has changed so much to the point he’s now seen as something of a tough tackler in a Sean Dyche team, but, once upon a time, Young was the posterboy for all that was perceived to be wrong with the Premier League in the early 2010s.

It’s intriguing to think about how much Young has changed as a player over the past decade.