Can football cope with Pickford not being punished for injuring Van Dijk?

Virgil van Dijk won’t play Premier League football again until some point in 2021. One discrete, chaotic moment has created months’ worth of unknowns; and it was a senseless, rather than malicious moment from goalkeeper Jordan Pickford who made the challenge on Van Dijk, but one that has nonetheless harmed a football player for the foreseeable future. That Pickford avoided immediate punishment for his challenge was a source of confusion for many, who initially believed the goalkeeper escaped sanction due to Van Dijk’s offside position. Had Pickford been dismissed in the immediate aftermath of the tackle, Liverpool would have most likely defeated a 10-man Everton side, but it is hard to say whether football fans would have found a three-match ban satisfactory once further knowledge of Van Dijk’s injury became apparent. Pickford may not face the sharp edge of fan chants during behind-closed-doors games, but he has already become a target for angry fans on social media who have made their thoughts and feelings very clear in the days since, one fan even going so far as to “promise” Van Dijk that some form of punitive justice will find its way to the goalkeeper on his behalf.