Rodgers offers solution to Leicester City injury and illness crisis
Brendan Rodgers has become the latest Premier League manager to back proposals for five substitutions per game.
The Leicester City manager made the remarks after he was unable to take off an injured Jamie Vardy in the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Liverpool last week.
While Vardy himself was reluctant to come off, he could have made a different decision if Rodgers was able to substitute him for a fourth player.
Doing so could have prevented Vardy from aggravating the injury as he did on Tuesday night, ruling him out for three to four weeks.
Rodgers said: “It’s a Catch-22 really, because when he was lying down I had it prepared in my mind that he was coming off and we’d have to play that last bit with ten men.
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“But the warrior he is and with that spirit, he didn’t want to come out of the team. He was still running and moving, it was a higher strain of the hamstring so it allowed him to continue.
“There’s no doubt if we could have made another sub, that would have certainly helped protect him for sure.”
In recent weeks, City have put the likes of Ben Nelson, Kasey McAteer and Oli Ewing on the bench and Rodgers has no qualms about including young players in his squads.
He does admit, though, that some may not be ready to be thrust into Premier League football at such a young age.
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When asked if he will have enough players to fill his bench on Saturday, Rodgers said: “That’s a different issue because I’ve always been one that promotes young players.
“But the other issue around that is you bring another player on the bench and though he may not be ready, he’s deemed available to play in the biggest league in the world. We’ll have players to go on the bench but it’s another issue about availability.”
So, is making five changes per game instead of three the answer?
“Yeah, one hundred per cent. I think that, for me, the possibility to do that would really help to change things. Five subs definitely would help,” Rodgers said.
“Some don’t think that’s the case, but I can only talk from our position.”