FIFA and the IFAB have approved the use of five substitutions for the rest of the season. This will change much for Chelsea and the sport itself.
FIFA and the IFAB have approved five substitutes over three occasions in a match for the remainder of this season. It remains up to the league’s themselves whether to take advantage of the rule change but most surely shall.
The thought process is that players will not return as fit as they were and this allows for more rotation within a match without changing the amount of time spent doing substitutions. The reality is FIFA and the IFAB surely wanted to do this anyways and this is simply the test run before it becomes a permanent change down the road.
Such a change seems small and insignificant, but it will have lasting ramifications for Chelsea and other clubs in the world. The changes may not be immediate, but squad’s will be built much differently than they used to be.
Even assuming the bench stays at just seven (it surely will not if this change takes permanence), clubs will have access to more players per game than they had before. 14 players suddenly jumps up to 16 and that alone changes how a squad is built.
Most squads will aim to build a strong starting XI, a bench that is good enough to step in as needed, and then reserves made up of youth or older players to fill gaps when injuries arrive. But with the ability to swamp half the outfield players, those five expected to come in will need to be of a higher quality. That in turn raises the quality of the entire bench as well.
Clubs like Chelsea will enter the transfer market more cautious to hold on to their own best players from the bench and more aware of others that could contribute in the same way. The match day 18 as a whole will increase in ability because the odds of them being used will increase as well.
This change also offers much more flexibility when it comes to youth and tactics. A manager could make two double subs in their first two chances and save the fifth sub for a youth player later on. Or they could change tactics much more frequently due to being able to bring on so many players at once.
And all of this is not to mention the bench size itself which will surely increase as a result. Italy already uses a full 11 man bench in their league and if this five sub rule sticks, the rest of the world may follow suit. That would cause an even greater increase in ability of players from the bench.
Chelsea will surely benefit from such a change due to their place in the transfer market and youth environment. But those players have to come from somewhere and clubs with less means will find themselves struggling as the well is run dry by the bigger clubs. The gap between the top and bottom will surely increase as the smaller clubs lag behind.
But overall, this rule change seems like an exciting idea, especially in the short term. If the Premier League agrees to the rule the run in will be a brand new tactical battle and many more players will get their chances to impress. It surely will not take much success for the rule to stick permanently, so Frank Lampard and company need to start preparing and getting the hang of it now.