LONDON — Marco Bielsa has insisted Leeds'
backroom staff did nothing wrong in their treatment of Robin Koch's head injury
during Sunday's defeat by
Manchester United.
اضافة اعلان
Koch returned after sustaining a cut forehead in a
first-half clash with
Scott McTominay and was later taken off due to the
effects of concussion in a 4-2 loss.
England's Professional Footballers' Association criticized
the current protocols, saying temporary concussion substitutes needed to be
introduced.
Permanent concussion substitutes have been used in the
Premier League for the past year, allowing each side up to an extra two
changes.
If players are replaced they cannot return to the
field. In rugby, in contrast, a substitute comes on while an off-field head
injury assessment is carried out.
"If there's something that the medical staff at
Leeds have done, and I as an extension of their decisions, it's to abide
strictly by the rules whether by
Covid or any knocks to the head or any other
case," Bielsa said.
"If any club has acted impeccably with the rules
regards to health, it's Leeds."
Bielsa added neither he nor his medical staff believed
Koch was suffering from anything other than bleeding from the cut when he
returned to the field.
"We did nothing different to the protocol,"
he said. "We did everything according to the protocol. I was convinced it
was just the bleeding from the cut. That was the first conclusion after the
evaluation the player had.
"When he manifested different symptoms, he was
substituted. The control the player receives when they get this type of knock,
the protocol that is applied is what generates whether he should be substituted
or not."
Bielsa explained he did not want to go outside the
current concussion substitution rules.
"I stayed with the initial position with the
absurd idea of not wanting to abuse the rules," he said.
"The prevention of the knocks on the heads of the
players is very serious, very important. That can generate real dramas. But
it's also true that you should not dramatize situations that don't deserve to
be interpreted in the way this situation has been interpreted."
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