Sundowns coach Mokwena has mixed feelings about five subs

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena has given a mixed review to the new phenomenon of allowing five substitutes.

In June Fifa approved the use of five substitutes per match as a permanent measure, a ruling that started in 2020 as a reaction to Covid-19, which wreaked havoc on domestic league schedules and created tough fixtures lists globally.

Mokwena said there is space for five substitutes in modern football, but added that the ruling has advantages and disadvantages.

“I see even in the English Premier League this is now a law. I think in modern-day football there is space for it because of the increase in the number of games,” he said.

“It helps the team always think of possibilities of refreshing the legs and maintain good intensity, and if used correctly I think substitutes can influence the game. They are coming from the outside with the right information, intelligence and freshness.

“I do think a huge number of substitutions [can be disruptive], particularly if you look at football as a sport with 11 players on the pitch — five is almost 50% of what you have on the pitch.

“I do think the sport now relies so much more on cohesion and chemistry, which is something that takes time to build. The more you play together, the more you build this cohesion.”

“When the team is on the pitch and struggling together and fighting together to recover a result, what goes unseen is what develops within a character of the team’s personnel.”

Mokwena said too many substitutes can disrupt the game and teams' momentum.

“The players learn to trust each other [knowing] that even in difficult moments they can fight for each other. You do lose a lot of cohesion with substitutions. There is disruption in intensity, particularly when you are chasing a result.

“When you have far too many fresh players not within the momentum, the struggle that initially came when the game started up until the time the subs came on suffers. You also lose that collective mentality that the team has adopted by fighting and suffering together.

“The good is that you have the possibility to refresh and you have a lot of options, but with that also comes the fact that if you overplay your substitutions and make too many disruptions you could lose far more than just minutes.

“You lose intensity because of the breaks where the subs are coming in, you lose a bit of cohesion that I am talking about because teams that suffer together have a way of developing trust among each other.”

Five-time successive DStv Premiership champions Sundowns, who have two wins and a defeat in 2022-23, meet Sekhukhune United at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Saturday.