I think the 5 subs rule is good overall. There’s no denying the bigger squads gain an advantage and we stand to gain more than anybody but trying to put that natural bias for it aside for a second there’s some big advantages to this.
The season is going to be much more condensed than usual with hardly any let up in number of games to compensate and a rescheduled Euros at the end of it too. last Christmas every single manager was moaning about not enough rest for the players is resulting in more and more injuries, well this new rule helps in that regard, being able to give rest to more players is going to dramatically reduce the number of injuries, far more injuries occur in the last 30 minutes due to fatigue than the first 60.
Not only that, the number of youngsters we see coming through is going to be significantly higher, the squad limits are going to remain the same size so there’s more scope for academy players making the bench and in turn getting some game time. that’s also going to help combat this trend of foreign clubs looking to poach academy players from this country and offer them game time, far less likely to lose talent when they’re regularly making the bench and getting some playing time.
I’m of course assuming the 9 man bench will remain too, otherwise you lose one of the key positives from this. I’ve always thought it was stupid to limit the number of player on the bench anyway, what’s the point in a 25 man squad if you can only name 18 to potentially play every week? other leagues let you fill your bench with an entire team of players, that rule should be changed regardless of keeping the five subs or not.
The only potential negative is the disruption to the flow of the game but if they keep this 3 opportunities to make changes rule that’s completely negated
Think we could see multiple benefits come from this for the league as a whole if the premier league chooses to implement it.
