Once the bandwagon gets going it’s hard to stop but I will try because this has gone too far with Dele Alli.

It’s unfair to keep digging him out for diving and it is putting the referees under pressure.

Maybe that’s what happened at Crystal Palace because I was there for the Tottenham game — there were two penalty incidents and neither of them were dives.

Dele Alli has received plenty of criticism after seeming to dive against Crystal Palace

Graham Roberts has defended Alli and says that the bandwagon has gone too far

The first one should have been a penalty when Patrick van Aanholt tripped him and the second one he can’t go anywhere else once he’s knocked it past the goalkeeper.

He’s got to fall over the goalkeeper. It’s only the way he went down that made some people think it’s a dive.

No one said anything when Roberto Firmino took a dive at Southampton, nothing from Gary Lineker or Alan Shearer.

No one said anything about Chris Smalling against Newcastle. What was that? That was a 9.5? There’s something wrong when big centre halves are diving around.

No one said anything about Jack Wilshere and Nacho Monreal diving in the League Cup final.

I saw those dives on Twitter because I don’t watch Arsenal play as a point of principle.

Gary Lineker called him 'Divey Alli' on Twitter following his first penalty appeal at Selhurst Park

Lineker wins a crucial penalty against Cameroon at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy

Alli dived over challenge of Wayne Hennessey in attempt to win a penalty in the win at Palace

I retweeted a clip of Gary Lineker going down to win a penalty for England in the World Cup against Cameroon.

Gary replied to say he had a gash on his leg where the defender hit him but I think that was more likely to have been the defender taking revenge later on. I played against Gary many times and I’m sure he dived more than once.

I don’t know about Alan Shearer because his game was more about strength and power.

They were both fantastic players but to keep coming out and saying Dele dives is ridiculous.

Match of the Day is an amazing platform, one of the biggest football shows in the world. That doesn’t mean they’re always right.

The week before, everyone jumped on the bandwagon after the FA Cup tie at Rochdale, saying: ‘Oh, Dele’s diving again.’

Had Alli successfully conned the referee into giving a penalty he would likely have faced a ban

But as Friend did not give a spot kick — and Spurs did not profit — Alli will escape FA action

Even the Rochdale player (Harrison McGahey) admitted he caught him. How can you say that’s not a penalty when their lad says it was? He was brought down. Give the lad a chance.

He’s very good at getting into these positions and if he’s touched he is going to go down. He’s learned that from the foreign players who brought it into the English game.

You didn’t see it so much in my day, although David Speedie was always very good at winning penalties. He’d knock the ball to one side and run into the goalie.

There’s much more of it about now and it’s wrong for people to keep digging out Dele Alli. There’s a lot of hatred towards Tottenham and their players. A lot of it comes down to jealousy.

Spurs' Alli also sought a penalty after a challenge from Patrick van Aanholt on Sunday

Dele is a fantastic player. He’s going to the very top and some people think they need to bring him down to earth. We seem to enjoy knocking our best players in England, I don’t know why.

Let’s give the boy a chance. He’s a superstar. He can be unplayable when he’s at his best. When it comes to scoring goals from deep he’s in the same bracket as Frank Lampard.

The manager at Spurs will look after him, he got him through that dodgy spell earlier this season. He’s in good hands, so I’m not worried about him.

Dele will get on and play the game and I’d like to know what Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer will say if he wins a penalty for England in the World Cup.