Clashing heads with his teammate Toby Alderweireld during their 1-0 loss to Ajax, Jan Vertonghen had to eventually be carried down the tunnel after his legs gave way on the side of the pitch.
Initially checked for a concussion, the Belgian was allowed to return on the pitch for around a minute before deciding himself he couldn’t continue, subsequently replaced by Moussa Sissoko in the 39th minute.
This was the second time Tottenham allowed a player back on too quickly after a head injury, heavily criticised back in 2013 when Hugo Lloris continued to play despite passing out after colliding with Romelu Lukaku’s knee.
The goalkeeper admitted a year later he was ‘wrong’ to fight through the injury at the time, and better measures were put in place to deal with concussions going forward.
However, it’s quite clear work still needs to be done when it comes to taking necessary measures in-game, such as forcing the player to leave regardless of whether he insists on continuing.
L’Equipe spoke to Dr Emmanuel Orhant, the French Football Federation’s medical director and UEFA medical committee member, about what happened in London on Tuesday.
He said: “If there’s even the slightest doubt, the instructions are to not take any risks and take the player off. In this case, was it that the doctor had no doubts or did he just not complete the job he was asked to do?
“Often, managers say ‘we have to try, it’s too important, we wait and see for a bit to see what happens’. There is pressure, that’s certain. If we didn’t have that pressure, we wouldn’t have this grey area that complicates the decision making process.”
Unfortunately for the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and co., the limited number of substitutions in football makes it more difficult to simply take a player off when he could be fine five minutes later.
It shouldn’t be the case, but that’s the way it is.
The NFL, for example, where concussions have finally been taken extremely seriously, can simply swap players around at will, allowing lengthier checks by doctors on the sideline in specially allocated tents.
This allows the injured player to be forced off the pitch by his head coach for a potential diagnosis, knowing he could return if given the all clear.
Football managers, however, don’t have that luxury.
Perhaps a new system could be introduced where a player is temporarily subbed on (not counting towards the three) while his injured teammate (it has to be a clear head injury) takes as long as needed to get diagnosed?
We’re just spitballing here, but perhaps it’s something to consider going forward, even if fans and FIFA tend to hate any sort of change to their beloved sport’s rules.
