You’re being downvoted but are entirely correct. Changing half of the on field players is stupid and is absolutely another way to both favour the bigger teams (I say this as an Arsenal fan) and enable football associations to further cram the fixture schedules with the excuse of “well, now you can rest players more easily due to more subs being allowed”.
Unfortunately many people on here are American and will likely struggle to understand the sentiment behind your point. The amount of injuries we’re seeing for many teams this year is staggering even with the increased subs. Players are being completely run into the ground. Unfortunately that’s just the way the game is heading - new UCL format with more fixtures, new WC format with more fixtures, and competitions like Nations League replacing friendlies which forces national teams to play their best players more often due to the prospect of tournament qualification being available if they miss out in the main qualifier.
Basically they’re trying to fill up the year with as many ‘meaningful’ matches as possible to increase revenue. The increased number of subs are just a way to keep players from complaining.
Yeah fair points. Of course there are freaks like Salah and Bruno that can play 90 mins 2 or 3 times a week at full intensity and be fine, but like you say the intensity is a lot higher.
I guess I do agree with you anyway that with how much is demanded of players now that we do need more subs, I suppose it’s just a symptom of the game now. I’d just prefer that we weren’t in a position where that had to be the case.