Belgium boss Roberto Martinez has urged the Premier League to adopt the five substitution rule to help aid player welfare.
Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has urged the Premier League to follow the major European leagues and competitions by adopting the five substitutions option to ease the stress on players.
Despite seeing a number of injuries this term, the English top flight remains the only one not to have adopted the five-sub rule.
A number of Premier League managers have called for more substitutions to be allowed with Jurgen Klopp and Frank Lampard also hitting at the scheduled time on many occasions.
The highlight of the above is that Chelsea took on Arsenal on Boxing Day and faced Aston Villa less than 48 hours after. Surprisingly or not, they failed to win either game.
Speaking to the Between The Lines podcast, Martinez wants the Premier League to adopt the five substitution rule moving forward.
“A unique season has to mean unique solutions. Some teams involved in European games had very little time of pre-season – in one case a French club had only three days from one season to another.”
“It’s crazy, that’s a very difficult turnaround. We’re in a situation that is nobody’s fault. We’re being attacked by this pandemic and football is one of the things essential for bringing joy to lives and being used for people to have a real feeling like we can share emotions and experiences together.”
Martinez continued: “So I think it’s responsibility for everyone in football to make the effort for the game to carry on as safely as possible. But this puts a lot of pressure on the players, there is a lot of games and very little recovery.”
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