Tottenham Hotspur boss Nuno Espirito Santo labels new heading rules as ‘absurd’
Speaking in his pre-match conference (h/t Daily Mail), Tottenham Hotspur boss Nuno Espirito Santo has labelled the new ‘heading rules’ as absurd.
The Premier League in agreement with the FA, EFL, PFA, and LMA, had declared new heading rules and also advised all the clubs to limit players to taking only 10 high forced headers in a week. This is because studies have revealed that there too many high forced headers could lead to dementia.
Although Tottenham and Nuno were aware of this, they were not exclusively following these rules in training. The Premier League were set to question the club about the disregard of the recommendations.
Nuno has now come out and has labelled these restrictions as ‘absurd’ and has asked for some tolerance on part of the Premier League. The Portuguese told reporters in his press conference (h/t Daily Mail):
‘They know my position. How can I say ‘No’ to a player that’s going to head a ball? There has to be some tolerance on that aspect. If you’re playing a small-sided game, and the ball goes in the air, tell me if it makes sense to say, ‘Don’t head it’? It’s absurd.
‘What we’re trying to prevent is this action of repeating over and over again, because we’re aware it can cause dementia and we don’t want to provoke any kind of harm to our players.’
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High forced headers include those following a pass of more than 35 metres, crosses, free-kicks, and corners. Limiting high-forced headers is a good practice, but it would also take a lot away from how Nuno’s star striker Harry Kane approaches the game. The Englishman is often the first man in Spurs’ attack to head down balls or score from headers.
