The important benefit that the new 5-substitute rule gives Celtic has been talked up by manager Ange Postecoglou this afternoon.
The new rule was reintroduced after it first came into place during the 2020/21 campaign. It was again reintroduced in January 2022 after consistent calls from club bosses to bring it back.
The rule gives the likes of Celtic an opportunity to utilise the squad in a more efficient manner, with more minutes and rest-time given to the players that need it.
And that has provided the Hoops with a priceless benefit in what’s a nightmare schedule involving 14 games within a 43-day period.
Talking up how the new rule helps his club, Postecoglou said via Celtic TV: “For us, if you look at the last 2 games, it’s not the 5 subs that have made the difference because we’ve scored 3 goals in the first half.
“The subs for me help us in terms of just managing the load on our players because we’ve got 3 games per week right up until the international break. We’ll probably be the same after the international break.
“So there’s a lot of football and if we want to maintain the levels and maintain the intensity and tempo we’re going to have to manage our players through that process. Sometimes that’s going to mean we make 5 subs and other times it just means we rotate the players between games. But you’ve got to have the squad to do that. In terms of managing the players’ loads which protects the players, I think the 5-sub rule will definitely help.”
Celtic already making the most of new 5 sub rule
Ange is clearly using the 5 sub rule to great effect at the moment. In Celtic’s last 3 matches, he’s utilised the full extent of it and made 5 substitutions against Dundee United, Rangers, and Motherwell respectively.
Granted, in the United game it was more in a desperate search to find a winner. However, in the matches against Rangers and Motherwell it’s been all about resting key players and keeping them fresh.
Not to mention it’s allowing players to receive opportunities that they likely wouldn’t have received otherwise. Look at Ben Doak coming on against Rangers for example. The James McCarthy cameos against Hearts and Motherwell too. It just helps give more footballers minutes on the pitch.
Granted, it has its downsides. Other clubs can use it to break games up more and frustrate the opposition. Others may argue it’s a rule that leans towards benefitting the bigger clubs as it allows them to stay fresh for the full 90 minutes.
But even so, Ange is quite right to make the most of it as he’s doing. It must make his man-management easier given the number of players making their case for first-team inclusion.
Hopefully, it’s something we continue to see the benefit of in the coming weeks as we continue to negotiate one of our busiest stages of the season.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou outlines the next stage in his exciting Celtic side’s development
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