Thomas Tuchel has echoed calls for the PL to re-introduce five substitutions while insisting that the surge in Covid cases during the busy festive period justifies the return.
During Project Restart in 2020, England’s top-flight allowed teams to use five substitutes a match with players’ fitness not yet up to speed following a prolonged pause in the season.
However, as Covid cases rise among dressing rooms throughout English football, Tuchel says the issue needs to be addressed again.
He said, “for us it’s the same situation as for anyone else. We have concerns, because we are not only football players and coaches, we are also fathers and have family members. So we are also concerned and have doubts and fears”.
“Still we are privileged to do our jobs and do what we love the most. It’s kind of in between. I’m very impressed with how the team takes it. ‘You know very well that the situation was very different when we arrived in Wolverhampton and had seven positive tests in three days”.
‘We had the feeling that we had an outbreak and wanted some time to deal with it mentally and to settle the team down. That was not the case and we lived with it. We tried to be as supportive as possible.
‘I just can say on this occasion I would love to push for five substitutions because five substitutions were made to protect the players when coronavirus popped up and made life difficult.
‘I think the situation is very serious and very challenging so if we decided to keep on playing at least we should have five changes to control the load.’
Tuchel’s comments follow similar calls from Man United interim boss Ralf Rangnick, who highlighted that England is the only country where just three substitutes are permitted.
‘The five subs were implemented when Covid started, and I think it was the right decision to do that to save energy for players, especially if they have just recovered from Covid,’ Rangnick said.
‘The same is true right now – we are in a similar situation to the one we had one-and-a-half years ago, therefore I don’t see why it shouldn’t be as it was one-and-a- half a year ago. As far as I know, in Europe England is the only country where they only allow three subs.’
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp have long campaigned for five substitutes to be a permanent rule in the Premier League. A vote on the subject went against the big sides last season.