Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he is happy following the Premier League's decision to allow teams to make five substitutions per game from next season.
The German has been one of the strongest advocates of bringing the top tier of English football in line with other European leagues and the Champions League.
The rule allowing teams five substitutions was briefly introduced as an emergency measure when the Premier League was restarted in 2020 after the pandemic-enforced break. However, the substitutions laws were reversed when the season came to an end.
Klopp is happy that the Premier League has finally decided to allow teams to make five substitutions. In his pre-match press conference ahead of the game against Watford, Klopp said, as quoted by the official Liverpool FC website:
"Great news. It's top news for football, it's top news for the players. We spoke a lot about it and the situation is that we all know that it will not get less games. So nobody will step aside, like no competition in no country really, and the international games will get more – so the European Championship will be with more teams. All these kinds of things. So for the players, it will be always more."
The 54-year-old has insisted that the change in rules will help the players in their much-needed recovery. The Liverpool managed added:
"With all the things we know about football, we try to help them with recovery as good as we can and it's much better than it used to be. But still, the games are the most intense part of the week – and [that's] three times a week. There's no other sport where you have that for such a long period."
"So everything we could do or we can do, we should do – and that's what obviously now the Premier League understood as well and the Premier League clubs understood as well. I'm really happy for football and for players."
Will five substitutions help teams with big squads like Liverpool and Manchester City?
Big teams like Liverpool and Manchester City have excellent squads, rich in both depth and quality. There is no doubt that these teams will benefit from the change in rules.
However, with other leagues in Europe already having five substitutes rule in place, there is not too much room for those opposing the decision. At the end of the day, players will be happy to get a greater amount of rest and time to recover.