Melbourne Victory defender Rhys Williams admits he “made a meal” of his reaction after Adelaide United striker Dzengis Cavusevic was given his marching orders last week.
The Big V downed the Reds 3-0 at AAMI Park on Saturday, but substitute Cavusevic was controversially sent off in the 55th minute.
The pair went to ground after contesting a header as Williams initiated contact with a push, however the Slovenian touched the Victory defender on the face, opting to go to ground.
Approaching the Melbourne Derby this weekend, Williams light-heartedly said “I was waiting for that question”, but addressed the issue which had many condemning him for diving on social media.
“That’s the modern game, every player - I know they wouldn’t admit it - would do the same thing that I did,” Williams said on Tuesday.
“I’m not proud of doing stuff like that, but on the other hand, if I stayed up, would he have got sent off? You can’t do stuff like that, if he left me and I pushed him, I would’ve got the yellow and that’s done with.
“It’s part and parcel of the game and we came away with three points. I helped the team out a bit, he was a big hustle-and-bustle striker as well, so I was looking forward to the battle, but that’s part of the modern game now.
“I know I did make a meal of it and I’ll admit that, but at the end of the day, it’s helped the team and we’ve come away with three points.”
Absolutely pathetic play acting from Rhys Williams there. Had a full second to think about it before throwing himself to the floor.
— Alex Lowe (@Lowey1993) February 24, 2018
Snapshot of everything that is wrong with our game at the moment and it's not just foreign players who do it.#MVCvADL
If Rhys Williams goes anywhere near the Australian World Cup team I’ll be following another country.
— Frank (@Frank_theTank78) February 24, 2018
Puts in several two footed tackles this year without a red card. Goes down for clear simulation after shoving first and someone else gets sent off. What an absolute dog.#MVCvADL
Williams is one of the most active Victory players on social media and admitted he has seen some of the criticism this season.
He shared a similar incident with Adrian Mierzejewski in January and the Polish star took to Twitter to vent his frustrations.
Come on...176cm vs almost 2 metres. Left arm exactly in the same position as right one. Its not my fault that he didnt jump pic.twitter.com/PERzTTsGBD
— Adrian Mierzejewski (@adrianmierzej86) January 26, 2018
The centre-back also said the way he challenged Cavusevic played a part.
“If I was looking back on it now, he (Cavusevic) wasn’t really watching the ball, which can get dangerous,” he said.
“I know people say it about my tackles, but I just wasn’t really happy and I pushed him out of frustration and he came back with that.
“I didn’t expect it and I think that’s the whole reason why I did what I did, just out of the blue and if someone did it again, I know I’d probably stand up, it was just out of pure shock.
“Adrian caught me and that was the only difference. That’s part and parcel of the game and I can feel aggrieved and get up and give him a push. A lot of people aren’t happy with some of my tackles, so it goes both ways.
"I don’t mind, as long as I’m doing right for my team and my teammates and my coach, then that’s all that worries me. I’m getting a bit of stick about what happened, but it’s all friendly banter and I’m sure they’ll forget about it.”
After watching Victory’s E-League announcement, I didn’t know Rhys Williams was actually an actor? 👀#MVCvADL
— FUTWIZ Jamie (@Jamie_ODoherty) February 24, 2018
Yes, it was unnecessary from Dzengis but Rhys Williams’ reaction is why football is laughed at by other codes supporters. #MVCvADL
— Jarrod Walsh (@jarrodwalsh) February 24, 2018
Victory are looking to thwart City’s third place finish on Friday and Williams said the playing group were backing under-pressure coach Kevin Muscat 100%.
He said Leroy George’s free kick screamer against the Reds was a classic example, as the Dutchman ran over to the boss with his teammates and it was hugs all round.
Williams added: “It was pure emotion, Jimmy (Troisi) scored the first one, but we weren’t sure if it was his and it took a while to get in.
“He didn’t really celebrate too much and when Leroy banged that in, with all the pressure that’s been on us, for that to rocket into the net was real emotion.
"You can tell through the celebration.”
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