Kevin Phillips has supported Jurgen Klopp’s call for the Premier League to allow five substitutions.
The former Premier League striker is the current manager at South Shields who play in the Northern Premier League Premier Division and at that level, they are allowed to make an extra two substitutions compared to the English top-flight.
Klopp has called for extra substitutions to be allowed in the past and angrily denied claims that the rule change would benefit the so-called bigger sides.
“I would actually support the introduction of five subs,” Phillips told Football Insider.
“We have five subs at my level and it works well.
“It is a level playing field for the majority of the Premier League. I don’t think it gives an unfair advantage to teams.
“There is no reason why it shouldn’t change in my eyes. I agree with Klopp on this one. I do not see it as a major issue if I’m being honest.”
In the Champions League and FA Cup, teams can make five changes during the game and Klopp has used the rule to his benefit in this season’s competitions.
He made all five changes in the 2-0 defeat of Inter Milan at the San Siro, with four of those changes coming whilst the score was goalless.
He also made four changes at Nottingham Forest last weekend prior to Diogo Jota scoring the only goal of the game to help us progress through to the semi-final.
We can understand why some are suggesting that the rule change would benefit the likes of us and Manchester City due to the fact we have serious strength in depth and if we’re struggling to break a team down, then we can make five changes rather than three.
But it’s not just about winning games, it’s about the health of players.
Getting as much rest as possible is vital to ensure players aren’t overworked and therefore suffer injuries.
We’re playing eight games across the month of April which outlines how gruelling the schedule is for some teams.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Premier League decide to review this at the end of the season and follow suit with most other leagues in Europe.
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