NFL player tweets after David Luiz appeared to get knocked out cold v Bournemouth

Chelsea slumped to their joint-worst Premier League defeat away at Bournemouth on Wednesday night.  Maurizio Sarri’s side suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat at the Vitaly Stadium, with Josh King netting a brace and David Brooks and Charlie Daniels also getting themselves on the scoresheet.  This was only the second time in Premier League history that Chelsea have lost a game by a four-goal margin, following their 5-1 defeat against Liverpool back in September 1996.  None of the Chelsea players emerged from the match with any real credit, although the performances of Jorginho and David Luiz were particularly bad.  But does Luiz have an excuse for his performance? It’s certainly worth asking the question.  The Brazilian defender had the ball powered into his head from close-range by King’s shot at goal in the first few minutes - and it appeared to temporarily knock him out.  American Footballer JJ Watt was watching the action in the US and tweeted his surprise that the South American wasn’t substituted off due to concussion protocols.  “David Luiz got absolutely rocked in the face by a ball kicked full force from about 5 yards away,” the Houston Texans star tweeted. “Knocked out cold, then back in the game playing like a champ 45 seconds later. I guess the concussion protocols are a bit different across the pond 😂.“  He wasn’t the only person on social media who raised the same point.  Luiz was allowed to continue and ended up playing the full 90 minutes, despite that nasty blow early on.  The Football Association recently updated their concussion guidelines to ensure that any footballer with a ‘suspected concussion’ should be immediately removed from the pitch.  “Footballers who sustain a suspected concussion, either during training or in a game, should immediately be removed from the pitch and not allowed to return until the appropriate treatment has been administered,” the FA’s website reads.  “That is the message at the heart of new guidelines launched by The FA for managing head injuries at all levels of the game.”  We can only assume that the medics who treated Luiz did not suspect a concussion, but the force with which the ball hit the defender does make you wonder whether withdrawing him from the match would have been the most sensible decision.

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