Kasper Schmeichel reportedly complained about Arsenal forward Alexandre Lacazette’s penalty run-up in a recent Premier League captains meeting with referees.
The Leicester City keeper was furious this month when Lacazette buried his spot-kick at the Emirates, running over to referee Anthony Taylor to complain about the player’s stuttering run-up.
It is illegal to completely stop your run-up before making contact with the ball, but some players have incorporated stutters, feigns and even jumps into their approach.
At the time, Schmeichel felt Lacazette had paused too much before taking 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 stop at any point.
The Leicester goalie made a beeline for Taylor and the officials at full-time of the defeat, still taking umbrage with Lacazette’s technique – and his complaints did not end there.
According to the Daily Mail, Schmeichel once again flagged his issues with stuttering run-ups at a recent captains meeting involving refereeing body PGMOL.
The call is used for referees and players to exchange dialogue around decisions and Schmeichel was the first 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, saying that a player can feign during the run-up but not when it is completed.
As such, Lacazette’s run-up was 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 keeper.
The most high-profile recent sample of a penalty being disallowed was Tottenham’s Son Heung-min against Rochdale in the FA Cup in 2018, with the player running up to the ball, stopping, and then shooting.
Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles also spoke on the call with referees and asked for an explanation on why some decisions this campaign had contradicted what players were told in pre-season briefings, with Mike Riley responding that officials are humans and sometimes can make mistakes.
