Kasper Schmeichel complained about striker ’s penalty run-up in a recent Premier League captains meeting with referees, according to reports.
The goalkeeper was furious earlier this month when Lacazette buried his spot-kick at the Emirates, running over to referee Anthony Taylor to complain about the former Lyon frontman’s stuttering run-up.
It is illegal to completely stop your run-up before making contact with the ball, but a number of players have incorporated stutters, feigns and even jumps into their approach.
At the time, Schmeichel felt Lacazette had paused too much before the shot, though both Taylor and the VAR had no issues with the run-up and felt his forward momentum only slowed and did not come to a complete halt at any point.
The Leicester keeper made a beeline for Taylor and the officials at full-time of the 2-0 defeat, still taking umbrage with Lacazette’s technique – and his complaints did not stop there.
According to , Schmeichel once again flagged his issues with stuttering run-ups at a recent captains call involving refereeing body PGMOL.
The call is used for referees and players to exchange dialogue around decisions and Schmeichel was first up with a question regarding the legality of stuttering run-ups from penalty takers, citing Lacazette’s recent goal against him.
PGMOL select group director Adam Gale-Watts responded to Schmeichel and outlined the laws of the game, saying that a player can feign during the run-up but not when it is completed.
As such, Lacazette’s run-up was entirely legal, with his brief stutter coming as he was still approaching the ball and he did not stop just before making a connection in an effort to deceive the goalkeeper.
The most high-profile recent example of a penalty being disallowed was Tottenham’s Son Heung-min against Rochdale in the FA Cup in 2018, with the South Korean running up to the ball, stopping, and then shooting.
Newcastle United captain Jamaal Lascelles also spoke on the call with referees and asked for an explanation on why some decisions this season had contradicted what players were told in pre-season briefings, with Mike Riley simply responding that officials are humans and sometimes make mistakes.
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