Are we on the brink of more change when it comes to how the Premier League season is going to shape up?
The news yesterday might indicate that we are getting one step closer.
The EFL confirmed that they will be going back to the five substitutes rule for the foreseeable future, and at the same time bringing the matchday squad up from eighteen to twenty, just as it was for all clubs when football restarted back in the summer. The Premier League has so far been hesitant on introducing the same rules in the top flight, and here have been cries from notable Premier League managers that the rules need to be changed for some time now.
So perhaps this change from the authorities down the league will encourage them to make similar changes.
There has been some debate as to whether or not there is some perceived advantage when it comes to squads dealing with more subs, with some arguing that the ‘bigger’ clubs will gain an advantage from it because they have more strength and quality in depth, that their 20th player in the team is better than the majority of the starters in others.
Will we stay up?
Yes
No
But I don’t think this needs to be a question about quality as much as it is about welfare of the players for the whole of the season. Given the nature of this season and how congested it will be, every player will be feeling the effects of it, from the best players in the league to the worst.
It won’t make much difference to us in the grand scheme of things. Just means when Manchester City play us they can take Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne off earlier after they go 3-0 up against us by half time, but for us it means that key players like Aleksandar Mitrovic and Andre Frank-Zambo Anguissa will get more opportunities to rest up ready for the next game.
In the end it’s all about playing the long game, and for a club like us trying to stave off relegation, there may be a time where the club has to sacrifice something short-term in order to pick points up further down the road.
What about you? What do you make of the five substitutes rule?