Moyes changes stance on subs

David Moyes is not against the reintroduction of a rule change which allow five substitutes in a match.

In May, soccer’s rule-making body IFAB changed regulations governing the maximum number of substitutes to help teams battling fixture congestion as they looked to complete the season after a three-month hiatus.

IFAB left it to individual leagues to decide if they wanted to adopt the rule this season and Premier League clubs voted against continuing it.  Moyes said he was initially against the rule as he thought it would be an advantage to the league’s top sides.

“I think player welfare is massively important,” Moyes told the Times. “But we have also got to say that the bigger clubs will probably have a better choice of five substitutes to bring on.

“I do think that when we were making the decision, the clubs lower down did think the bigger teams would get an advantage from it. But I am now in full agreement that a player’s welfare is more important and if the decision was overturned I wouldn’t be dead against it. But I still think it helps the sides with the bigger and stronger squads.”

Claret and Hugh say:

Back in June explained Moyes explained why he is reluctant to use lots of substitutes saying: “I think that we have got substitutes we know that can make the difference but we have other ones we need to play at different moments in the game, As you have probably read, I was not in favour of nine substitutes, I had my own reasons and it is wrong to change the rules halfway through the season. 

“We have people coming back from injury that we haven’t seen enough, some of them can do with game time if they can get it but in the position we are in, I can just give people opportunities out of the blue. 

“They need to be ready and at the right level as we need to pick up the points.”

There is not doubt that the re-introduction of five substitutes will help the bigger clubs with bigger quality squads. And in any event this very simple game is the victim of so many rule changes and over complicvation that frankly it’s becoming ridiculous.