Gareth Southgate has changed his approach to England substitutes. (Image: Getty)
Gareth Southgate won’t be sending any ‘substitutes’ on during England’s Euro 2024 opener with Serbia on Friday despite being able to make up to five changes during the 90 minutes. Under new UEFA rules for the tournament, managers have been able to name 26-man squads and get the luxury of a sixth replacement if knockout matches go to extra-time.
All of Southgate’s players will be changed and ready to go in Gelsenkirchen, meaning he’ll have an array of talent at his disposal given the depth of England’s squad.
Southgate will make switches against Serbia, and then in later group matches with Denmark and Slovenia, but the players coming off the bench won’t be categorised by the traditional term.
Instead, Southgate has taken a leaf out of the book of former England rugby coach Eddie Jones. Players not in the starting XI will be branded as ‘finishers’, a notion increasingly familiar in the oval ball game.
Jones argued that modern day rugby had become a squad game, with an impact role equally as important as a starting berth. "We've got 23 guys, there is no difference between starting and finishing," he argued.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta later did similar, opting to name his bench players ‘impacters’. And he claimed the alteration would help improve the mindset of those left out: “I think it is replacing somebody and making the team better, or doing things differently that are related to winning football matches and at the end your mentality should be only that, to impact the game to win it,” he said. “That’s it, nothing else."
Eberechi Eze has been tipped to make an impact off the bench for England,. (Image: Getty)
Southgate is yet to speak publicly on his new ploy, but Crystal Palace winger Eberechi Eze claimed the tactic would help with squad unity. "It’s not just about the 11," he said. "It’s about the whole team, the culture, the collective.
“You win the tournament as a collective. Everyone knows that, everyone wants to understand that. It’s putting your ego to the side and being able to focus on what’s important for the team. If you have that type of culture, which we do, you’ve got the best chance.
"The manager spoke about ‘finishers’ We call them finishers, we know that. The players that come onto the pitch, there is a mentality about it, there’s a way to go about it. There’s importance in that role, it’s not just about the 11."
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Southgate and co will have three windows to make their five changes, although the half-time interval is not classed as one of them. Under new concussion guidelines, a player replaced with a head injury will not count as one of the five substitutions.
The 53-year-old has previously been criticised for waiting too long to send players on, most notably at the last Euros final at Wembley in 2021. England let a 1-0 lead slip against Italy, eventually losing on penalties.
