Danny Murphy has accused Harry Kane of cheating to win penalties after the Spurs striker was at the centre of a controversial call during the 2-1 win over Brighton on Sunday.
Kane tried to get his body between Adam Lallana and the ball, only for the Brighton midfielder to clatter into him from behind and bring him down.
While the referee, Graham Scott, initially awarded a free-kick just outside the box, VAR intervened to overturn the decision and award Spurs a penalty.
Murphy blamed the referees for not seeing through attempts at instigating fouls and accused Kane, Mohamed Salah and Callum Wilson of cheating by trying to con the officials.
Murphy told talkSPORT Breakfast: “Callum Wilson, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, they all did it, and it’s something so many forwards do now which is using the inefficient refereeing and the rules to get penalties.
“I don’t want to see it. They’re all doing it, they’re all cheating, they’re all manipulating the referee – you can use what word you want.
“And it’s not going to stop, because you don’t get penalties if you don’t go down! Actually, the only way you’re going to stop it is if defenders stop doing stupid tackles. You can’t go in for a tackle in the box, you’ve just got to stand your ground.
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“But why can’t referees have the intelligence and common sense to see through it? They can see they’ve over-exaggerated, they’ve overdone it, they’ve dived and after the event, delayed, they’ve thrown themselves to the ground – don’t give the penalties!”
Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho has leapt to the defence of Harry Kane and claimed that the Tottenham striker’s attempts to shield the ball were perfectly legitimate (Football.London).
The Spurs boss insisted that Graham Scott was right to blow for a foul for Lallana’s challenge.
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