The substitution was originally introduced to football to allow a team to replace an injured player, one per game to begin with.
Lots of teams objected to its introduction, claiming that it was a slippery slope, and that dishonourable managers would start to use it tactically. How right they were. Now, almost every team uses their changes to adapt their game plan – apart from Maurizio Sarri.
He uses his subs to replace a tired player with a similar but fresh player. It’s a habit that has grown increasingly infuriating, especially in games like last night where he brought on a right back for a right back when 2-0 down in the FA Cup.
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Belgian journalist Kristof Terreur has the full numbers collected here:
Maurizio Sarri has made 124 substitutions since he’s in charge of Chelsea:
13x Barkley on for Kovacic
8x Pedro on for Willian
7x Kovacic on for Barkley
7x Giroud on for Morata
6x Willian on for PedroWillian subbed off most (22), followed by Kovacic 2nd (19) & Pedro (18).#cfc pic.twitter.com/lOzqoU1lGC
— Kristof Terreur (@kristofterreur) February 19, 2019
THIRTEEN times Ross Barkley has come on for Mateo Kovacic. That means 10% of his substitutions at the club have been taking off one annoyingly passive centre-mid for another.
Please, please, give us a break MS. Just for once change things up. We’re not sure how much more of this we can take.
