It was announced last week that the upcoming Championship season will see teams allowed up to five substitutions to be made in any game. The rule change will allow teams make more changes to their lineups mid-game and the team that finishes the game will often only feature half of the outfield players that started the game.
In this article I’m going to dig into why this change could be good news for Town’s younger players, particularly those that are close to breaking into the first team but aren’t quite there yet.
What exactly are the new Championship rules on substitutions?
The headline change is that you can now make five changes instead of three but it’s not quite that simple. You can still only stop the game for substitutions three times, so if you don’t make any changes at half time and then make three separate single substitutions then you cannot use the two remaining changes because you’ve used up your three opportunities to swap players.
This isn’t an unprecedented change, as five subs were allowed during the pandemic affected 20/21 season, though in that season teams were allowed to have nine players on the bench but in the 22/23 season it will remain at seven players.
I think these details help to make the change workable, as limiting the number of times you can make changes stops the second halves of games getting too bitty and keeping the match-day squad sizes the same stops traveling expenses increasing for clubs.
How will these changes help Huddersfield Town’s youngsters?
These changes will mean that smart coaches will look to freshen up their lineups as games go on and the strength of a team’s bench could become almost as important as the strength of their starting lineup.
Quite often Carlos Corberan can be quite conservative with his substitutions, making like-for-like changes to avoid burnout and to get minutes for senior players. But now he has an extra two players that he can introduce into games, it may inspire him to be more experimental in the late stages of games.
I think young players are most likely to benefit from this rule change as it’s quite common to want to throw on an unknown quantity late in a game to try and make something happen. A player such as Brahima Diarra has the X Factor and can make something out of nothing, so there’s no harm on chucking him on in the 85th minute of a game if things aren’t going Town’s way, particularly if more conventional substitutions have been made and haven’t turned the tide for Town.
Who are the young players that might make a name for themselves this season?
Feel free to bookmark this section and laugh at me in May 2023, but here are a few names that we might see a lot more of next season:
- Brahima Diarra – I’ve mentioned him already above but he’s an exciting attacking midfielder with a bit of magic in his boots.
- Josh Austerfield – A classy but understated deep-lying defensive midfielder that can stroke the ball around the field.
- Pat Jones – A lightning-quick winger that has already got some first team minutes.
- Brodie Spencer – Ridiculously already playing senior international football before making his first team debut but surely it won’t be long before we see a lot more of him.
- Etienne Camara – A very aggressive defensive midfielder that could end up being Jonathan Hogg’s replacement.
There are loads of others too that have played a bit for the first team but haven’t yet properly established themselves like Crichlow, Rowe, Jackson, High and Philips.
It’s not possible that all of the above can burst through into the first team picture, there are too many established players with years of experience blocking their paths but this new five subs rule does create the space for more players to get more minutes. Then it’s down to the players to make an impression on both the coaches and the fans.
what has happened to the young winger/forward from republic of ireland?
always spoke enthusiastically in interviews,allegedley quick,another Sorba.
rarely mentioned even in b team games.
can anyone give any insight?
i for one would b hopeful of progress into first team,believe he likes to play on left?
hopefully still with us,hopefully not getting homesick?
sadly cant even remember his name….sorry.