DAVID HYNTERhears the Tottenham manager bemoan his striker not getting a 'nailed-on penalty' for not diving

HARRY REDKNAPP suggested the fall-out from the Eduardo da Silva dive controversy had coloured the early season landscape to such a degree that Robbie Keane had not wanted to go to ground as soon as he was touched by Ricardo Carvalho at Stamford Bridge, for what the Tottenham Hotspur manager described as a “nailed-on penalty”.

Keane was caught by the Chelsea defender as he burst in from a tight angle in the 55th minute, with Tottenham trailing 1-0. He did go down but, to the amazement of himself, Redknapp and the rest of the Tottenham team, Howard Webb, the referee, waved play on. Webb is not Tottenham’s favourite official, having awarded a harsh penalty against them last April at Manchester United. Cristiano Ronaldo scored to spark United’s comeback victory.

The issue of diving has been at the top of the news agenda since Arsenal striker Eduardo’s tumble against Celtic in the Champions League play-off last month. He was charged and banned by Uefa for two European matches, only for the punishment to be overturned on appeal.

“When Carvalho first caught him, if Robbie had gone down, he’d have got the penalty,” said Redknapp, “but, given all the talk there’s been about diving, he’s tried to stay on his feet. I think it does play on players’ minds. They’re scared that if they go down, they’re going to get a card.

“He’s caught him and Robbie’s tried to stay on his feet. But when he’s first caught him, if he’d gone down, it was a nailed-on penalty. He was too honest. And I suppose it was a sending off for Carvalho, too.”

Redknapp recalled that Webb had “apologised after Old Trafford last season” for what Redknapp called a “diabolical penalty decision” but he could not contain his frustration with the referee.

“They don’t want people diving but if he felt he dived, why didn’t he give Robbie a yellow or a red card?” he said. “It’s either a penalty or a card. It’s got to be one or the other, not nothing.”

Didier Drogba, the Chelsea striker, was the outstanding player on show, bullying the Tottenham defence into submission but he spent some of his time on the floor following challenges in apparent agony. This drew a dig from Redknapp, before his admiration for the Ivorian took over.

“I don’t want to see people diving if they’ve not been touched,” said Redknapp. “I saw a bit of that out there today, when people go down and roll about, then get up and run away. It just seems to happen sometimes . . . I wish he was in my team, though.”

Drogba created the opening goal for Ashley Cole, with a driven centre that caught out Vedran Corluka and he punished Tottenham after they had suffered the set-back of the loss of Ledley King after half-time. Redknapp reported that King had damaged a hamstring as he pushed off his right leg to chase Drogba.

“Ledley going off was a big turning point,” he said. “Once we lost Ledley, there was no way we could deal with Drogba. I felt we were right in the game at half-time but once Ledley went . . . You need centrehalves. If you took John Terry out of the Chelsea side and had to stick someone else in . . .

“We defended abysmally for the second goal but we couldn’t handle Drogba. I said to Kevin Bond as soon as Ledley went that I knew we couldn’t handle him, that he’d bully us. He was too strong.”

Redknapp was forced to shuffle Corluka across from right back after King was forced off but his woes in central defence deepened when Sebastien Bassong collided with Nicolas Anelka and departed on a stretcher in a neck brace.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti would not be drawn on Keane’s penalty appeal.

“I don’t know if Tottenham should have had a penalty, I am not a referee,” said the Italian.

“I do not like to speak about the job of the referee. I prefer to speak about the match. The referee did a good job because there was a lot of respect.

“There was no problem with his refereeing. I am very happy because we won a difficult game.

"It was very important to win this game. It was a derby and we played well against a very good team." Guardian Service