Premier League Project Restart

[Meklown]

The English Premier League is finally back! It has been a difficult few months for everyone but as things calm down a bit, it is nice to see life slowly getting back to normal. 

As an Arsenal fan we have had the worse restart imaginable - two losses in a row. I did not catch the game against City but I watched the one against Brighton. We have had horrible luck with injuries but in my opinion the one Leno sustained against Brighton could really have been avoided. 

A simple punt into the box, keeper comes out for a routine catch - while in the air, the striker (Maupay) put in some body contact, and Leno becomes imbalanced and lands awkwardly, doing his knee. At this point nobody knows the severity of the damage, but we know it's bad if the TV refuses to replay the images. 

The debate went on about whether the striker was at fault or not. Rio Ferdinand was speaking as a pundit on BT Sport and commented that "football is a contact sport and all strikers should be expected to do the same, to show your presence". Peter Crouch rightly pointed out that "interfering with any man in the air is a foul in rugby". It was also pointed out that the striker had "every right to challenge for the ball", and "he did not intend to cause injury".

At the time of viewing I thought that the striker should not go in for the extra push. Maybe my emotions were high while the game was going on, but I just saw a picture in the BBC report, and it confirms my thinking that the striker was never anywhere near the ball. He had no right to "challenge for the ball" because he was miles away. This was obviously dangerous play and he made body contact simply for the sake of it. For the point on "not intending to cause injury", I tend to still agree, but at the same time you don't throw someone off a roof while "not intending to hurt them". 

It may be time for football to review the safety guidelines regarding this type of contact. I think Crouch's comments regarding rugby were very pointed. He did not deny that football coaches encourage this type of body contact, but also made it clear that this is dangerous behaviour that could potentially lead to (unintended injury).

Of course, the whole situation was made worse by Maupay scoring a late winner.

How did everyone else's clubs get along in the restart?

[david9985]

On the Maupay incident, there's a little bump and it is a foul. 99+ times out of 100 it's an annoying and unnecessary gesture only, but the circumstances this time have meant an injury.

The challenge that Lacazette made on the Brighton keeper was a much more dangerous act for which he was correctly booked. This type of challenge has a much higher likelihood of causing a serious injury. Obviously none of the Arsenal players treated Lacazette the same way they treated Maupay.

I don't think what Maupay did necessetates the need for a review of that type of challenge. It was a token gesture. If we're looking at that then there are 100 other minor offences ahead of it in the queue.

My club is Newcastle United, a good start! Great to be back! I'm enjoying the games on TV more than I thought I would ?

[Ken Gargett]

i only saw 60 seconds of highlights, needless to say that was generous if you are a gunners fan - we have been dire - but i'd heard reports of this and was prepared to be outraged. then i saw it and thought, is that it? unfortunate. didn't see any genuine intent o injury. looks like we have lost our best player for a while. bottom line, we should have done much better. 

[Shatner's Bassoon]

Very late to this and I’m a Brighton season ticket holder; don’t hold it against me! We’ve done ok since the restart: we should be safe now and that wasn’t a given considering the games we had left. It won’t be a true restart for me until the supporters are back, but at least it looks like we’ll be in the premier league next season.