Why Liverpool are awarded penalties

In the light of Liverpool's title push, and the publication of various penalty-related statistics that indicate that the Anfield club have been awarded more penalties than any other Premier League club, various theories on the reasons behind this have been pushed around.

However, my suggestion is simply that the referees are human, and unless they use technology to clear up these issues, and amend the laws of the game to make them more clear, eliminating any grey areas, these topics will continue to be hotly disputed.

If I were a referee at a match between a potentially-title-winning team, and a side that had little to play for, and to whom the result was less important, I can honestly say that I would be very reluctant to award the underdogs a penalty, in case it was a wrong call. If you make a mistake and it affects West Ham (for example), it is not newsworthy.

But supposing there is an incident on the last game of the season, and a Liverpool (for example) player goes down in the box. You think there may have been contact. Would you really, hand on heart, with human emotions running through your body, be able to turn it down, knowing that, in the 25th anniversary year of the Hillsborough Disaster, and that they are chasing a first title in almost as long, you may be forever blamed for depriving them of it?

It is easier to give decisions to teams that have more riding on the result of the game (and, indeed, each decision made), but I think people are deluded if they think the FA (or Premier League) have conspired to ensure Liverpool lift the title.

I think the penalties have been soft, and very generous, but what we need is stipulations which identify the definition of a penalty.

I've often heard it said that a "soft" foul in the box (where no penalty has been awarded) would definitely have been given as a free kick anywhere else on the pitch. And it is THIS that leads to diving. I am no fan of Gerrard, and of diving in general, but it does seem that the infringement has to be more obvious inside the box (i.e. the player HAS to go down) for it to be deemed a foul, particularly for the less-fancied sides.

I would be interested in any other angles on this.