Unlimited Subs Bench – An Idea Worth Considering

Of the many alterations and rule changes to football that have been considered, having an unlimited pool of substitutes stands out to me as the most logical, and the most likely to happen.  Already in Serie A, teams are allowed to present a squad of 23 to the match officials before a game, 11 of which will start the match, while the other 12 become available substitutes. The advantages of this are vast, for as well as making squad rotation (therefore maintaining good harmony in the squad) far easier for the manager, it also offers him the chance to field younger players who may not have been trusted to sit on a seven-man bench.

In recent weeks, I have become increasingly frustrated with some of Rafael Benítez’s substitutions late on in games. Away to Leeds United, Chelsea were winning 4-1 with a quarter of the match to go, yet rather than bring on one of the many fledging young talents in Chelsea’s reserve side, Benítez chose to bring on Paulo Ferreira – a player nearing the end of his career who would benefit very little from a 15 minute cameo appearance in a game that was already won. Nathan Aké, or Todd Kane – both of whom are very exciting young defensive prospects – would have gained far more from the experience of first team football than Ferreira did, yet it seems that Benítez would rather not take the gamble of selecting inexperienced players for his bench, over seasoned professionals who he can rely on to do a job when called upon. A fine example of this was Chelsea’s 8-0 demolition of struggling Aston Villa. Going into the game, Chelsea would have expected to beat Lambert’s side, yet on his bench Benítez opted for the likes of Ferreira, Ramires, Oscar and Marin over giving some of Chelsea’s younger players the chance to gain invaluable Premier League match experience (I must stress that Nathan Aké and Lucas Piazón were both on the bench for that match, but only because John Terry and Daniel Sturridge were injured). Unsurprisingly, Chelsea were leading 3-0 after 35 minutes, and with the game in the bag, it would have been a perfect opportunity for the likes of Islam Feruz or Andreas Christensen – two of Chelsea’s most exciting prospects – to get some playing time, however instead Benítez could only bring on Oscar and Ramires before giving Piazón 15 minutes to prove his worth.

Many teams view the League Cup, Europa League and even the FA Cup to an extent, to be of minor importance, and elect to field inexperienced sides – arguing that by doing so they are able to develop the players of the future. If however, teams had the option of bringing on some of their youth players while cruising in Premier League games, the need to field weakened sides and risk going out of the cup competitions would be less. In my eyes, the restricted substitute bench stands no purpose, it simply makes it harder for managers to give all of their players time on the pitch, while also inflating the importance of versatile players – the likes of John O’Shea – who would often make it onto the subs bench ahead of younger players (Fabio, Rafael and Evans in O’Shea’s case during his time at Manchester United). Some would argue that by restricting the bench to seven players, teams like Manchester City with large squads are prevented from selecting match-day squads nearly double the size of a team like Everton; however the Premier League regulations only permit a maximum squad size of 25 players over the age of 21 which all teams abide to at the start of the season, therefore increasing the number of places on the bench will not give big-spending sides an advantage over those with smaller squad, for before each match both teams have an equally sized pool of players to select anyway. Hopefully, by copying Italy’s mould, the Premier League would begin to see a rise in the number of first-team appearances for academy players, and a reduction in the number of fruitless loan spells reserve players are sent on – which can only be a good thing, for more chances in the first team will result in a greater opportunity for promising players to develop, therefore meaning teams will no longer have to spend ridiculous money on cover players when there is an adequate replacement  who is probably currently sitting in the stands unable to get a game.