Serious question.... 3779

The only difference being that they haven't written about their intention in a book? No, I don't presume. There are challenges, two footed lunges over the ball for instance, where a professional player KNOWS he is going to injure his opponent. Gerrard has put players out of the game for a lot longer than the two minutes Haaland suffered.

The whole thing about this

Your evidence for this?

Keane confesses that was his plan

There are rivalries, feuds, hatreds that last entire players careers. I am not defending Keane. Just saying that it's not uncommon.

Of the many two-footed injury-inducing tackles Gerrard has done I wonder how many were pre-meditated. Some may have been payback for a challenge on him earlier in the game, others may have been payback for a challenge in the previous fixture between the clubs that season, the season before or the season before that. It matters not.

On the contrary. PV's challenge on RVN, putting him out of the game for months was almost certainly premeditated. It was a two-footed lunge over the ball catching RVN above the shin pads. The previous season PV had been sent off for aiming a kick at RVN and PV blamed Ruud for the sending off. There was a lot of ill-feeling after the game and it doesn't take a genius to imagine PV wanted payback. The motive was there. The only thing missing was a Keane-style written confession.

You KNOW there's a difference between

Whether you wait one year, five minutes or two games is not relevant. All are indefensible. Let's not imagine that Roy Keane is alone in this crime. Gerrard and PV are just two examples.

His own words express how he much he thought about it. Are you saying

Are you referring to the challenge ON RVN? See above.

See above.