Chris Sutton gets sent to the naughty step for Mohamed Salah comments

Pundit Chris Sutton has been sent to the naughty step for his comments regarding Mohamed Salah.

Diving is a hot button issue at the moment, and Daily Mail columnist Sutton penned an article in which he warned Salah not to take such theatrical tumbles in the future.

And Twitter has pounced on the former Blackburn Rovers striker, with a large number of supporters believe the attack to be part of some grander media agenda against foreign players.

In the article Sutton claimed that each time Salah goes down in the box, he places the Reds’ quest for the title at risk – before continuing to suggest that Liverpool couldn’t win the league if the Egyptian were to pick up a two game ban.

Never mind the arguments surrounding the ethics of hitting the deck after feeling contract in the area, the point made about Jurgen Klopp’s squad depth is also wrong.

The Reds have proven that they can win without their best players in the team, and there is no reason why they couldn’t continue to pick up wins if Salah were to miss a few games.

With Adam Lallana and Xherdan Shaqiri, Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi there is enough depth to brush off Salah being unavailable. Of course, his name in the starting XI always means victory is easier to come by – but no Salah doesn’t mean no points.

And by creating a media storm around the issues, he’s more likely to get referees and officials to modify their behaviour and take a more negative view of the forward. This could result in bookings when there was genuine contact and the Salah being banned when he was in the right.

In part this is a problem created by the 24/7 news culture. It creates organisations that need to keep their plates spinning at all times, and means big deals are made of small issues.