Graeme Souness accuses Harry Maguire of diving during West Brom stalemate

Former Liverpool boss Graeme Souness accused Manchester United captain Harry Maguire of diving to try to win a penalty during his side’s 1-1 draw at West Brom on Sunday afternoon.

Referee Craig Pawson overturned his decision to award a second-half spot-kick for a Semi Ajayi foul on Maguire after reviewing the footage on the pitchside monitor.

Offside would have come into play anyway had he stuck with his decision, but Souness nonetheless hit out at Maguire for the way he hit the deck.

Harry Maguire, left, felt the visitors should have had a penalty at the Hawthorns (Nick Potts/PA)

“It’s clearly offside and he goes to ground as though he’s been hit with a baseball bat. Diving!” said the Scot, speaking in his role as a pundit for Sky Sports.

“He said he thinks it’s a penalty. It’s not enough to bring him down the way he goes down. He throws himself to the ground. It’s not a penalty.”

Souness added: “This is such a bad result for Manchester United. Maguire has just said it’s a difficult place to go. West Brom have won one game at home this season – against the bottom team. How is that a difficult place to go? That’s a difficult place to go if you’re second or third in the league?

“West Brom had the better chances. That is an exceptionally poor performance and exceptionally poor result for Manchester United, when you think they’ve got a chance of putting the pressure on Manchester City. Nah.”