EFL to reintroduce 5 Subs Rule

For once the EFL is actually being fairly proactive in their decisions. If only the cartel of Smaller teams in the PL could actually for once stop looking after their own self-interest at the expense of English football

Anyway normally you would think with the bigger budgets City would benefit from this but the squad depth is so poor I'm not sure bringing 2 more sets of fresh legs on will really help all that much

 

That's a problem with your squad being so poor though not because its a bad idea. We are already seeing players having issues with fatigue-related injuries, especially in the PL where the season restarted so they had very little break and with games coming thick and fast it's going to just get worse. The extra 2 subs doesn't solve the issue but it will help a bit as thats 2 extra players you only need to do 60-70mins of a match and also it means you can make a sub without being as concerned about an injury then leaving you down a man

 

Sure the stronger the bench the more it helps but it would have been the same thing brought up when subs first were introduced and then again anytime the sub numbers have increased.

 

I'm not sure you can exactly call them meaningless games that are just for financial benefit. Yes there is a financial benefit but its primary goal is pre-season matches to get the players fit for the season via carefully calculated training regimes. If they weren't flying off they would be playing such games in England. Going abroad has the benefits of training in weather that is better for the players and being away also means the clubs have more control on them as they are stuck in the team hotel rather than going home. Also remember that generally preseason games are pretty well spaced out and players generally only play 45mins, maybe 60 at a push in the later matches. It just so happens that during preseason time some of the best places to go and do preseason from a fitness POV also are some of the best places from a financial pov

 

Again nowhere am I saying there isn't a financial element but its absolutely not just financially motivated. It's about finding that mix of whats good financially and having the right teams available to play against, having the facilities to take advantage of and the right conditions. When you go to the States as an example you have world-class sports facilities to use at every college in the country, let alone the professional sports teams. You also have alot of lesser teams you can play whose season's run at a different time to Europe which creates a good set of circumstances, they are teams they should beat but the fitness levels make it closer. And these teams play at grounds with great quality of the pitch. Then when you get closer to the end you have good neutral venues to play against one of the other top teams touring.

If you go to Spain largely the good facilities are owned by the top Spanish clubs who may not be open to them being used by another team. The lesser teams are pretty poor, aren't any further along in their fitness and play at fairly poor grounds that increase the chance of injuries. And the big money ties would still be there so its not like going to Spain is going to be significantly less financially rewarding, infact it would most likely save some money on the travelling costs

 

You are only allowed 3 stoppages for subs. So you can't really waste time like that unless you leave all your subs until after the 90mins is up