Jacob Murphy has received strong criticism from former Arsenal and England defender Martin Keown following the defeat to Aston Villa.
Murphy had gone down as he burst into the box, anticipating contact from Ashley Young, which never came. This caused Villa captain Tyrone Mings to be furious at the time and it was a sentiment echoed by Keown.
“It makes you really angry as a defender when a defender does that. It’s making me angry watching it," Keown told BBC Final Score, per HITC.
“It’s so wrong. The referee needs to punish that. It’s simulation. It’s annoying. He is trying to gain an advantage. He is trying to cheat the referee.
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“I don’t like to use the word cheating. But what else is he trying to do? And he gets away with it. He should be punished.”
However, the Newcastle player escaped any punishment.
Considering that Callum Wilson won a penalty which was subsequently overturned by VAR due to a marginal offside in the build-up, Steve Bruce was already unhappy with his side's treatment by officials - right or wrongly.
In this case, Murphy will perhaps feel lucky to have avoided the yellow card for the incident as he did pick up a yellow card later on. Bruce would not have wanted a suspension to add to his side's disappointing start to the season, as they have lost their opening two fixtures convincingly, following a bright start to the opening game.
The Newcastle manager will be hoping to kickstart their season this Saturday against Southampton, who drew 1-1 against Manchester United at the weekend.
