Andros Townsend has dismissed claims from Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp that the Premier League should allow the use of five substitutes. During the return of Premier League action over the summer, teams were allowed to use five substitutes – but clubs voted down the idea to continue doing so during the 2020/21 season. Following Manchester City’s draw against Liverpool on Sunday, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp both discussed why they felt the league should allow clubs to use more subs per game. However, Townsend says that this would only aid the teams with larger squads and the funding to buy more players.
Andros Townsend said “I watched that game the other day, Obviously Pep and Klopp were speaking at the end of the game and it’s interesting, you look and Pep made one sub, Klopp made two subs, one was enforced. So, you desperately want five subs to protect the players, but when it comes to it you don’t even use the three that you’re given? So, not for me, I think it kind of unevens the playing field, it’s an advantage to the sides with the bigger squads. They’re saying they don’t want it when they’re playing each other but when they’re playing smaller clubs and maybe it’s harder to break them down, they want to be able to bring on five world-class international forward players to help break down the mid-table sides. So, not for me. I think it’s fine the way it was. Three subs has worked for many, many years and I don’t see a reason to change it.”
