Graham Potter fully supports the Premier League’s decision to allow teams to make five substitutions this season.
Our head coach changed four players last Sunday when Albion kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 win at Manchester United.
He now has the option of choosing from nine players on the bench, an increase of two from before. Last season Albion averaged 2.9 substitutions a game, the average time they came on was 67.8 minutes.
On Sunday, Potter made his first change against United in the 75th minute when Tariq Lamptey came on. Enock Mwepu followed a minute later before two changes were made during stoppage time with the introduction of Levi Colwill and Deniz Undav.
“I think it's interesting,” said Potter. “From a selfish management perspective players feel they are closer to getting on the pitch. We’ve got a good squad so we're confident that if we lose a couple of starting players there are guys that can come in and compete and help so that's a positive. We like it and we're happy with it.”
Critics of the change felt it would benefit the clubs with bigger squads, although champions Manchester City made the least number of substitutions on average in the League last season.
“You can change things significantly, like four subs at a time and still hold another substitution. It’s a big percentage of the team,” added Potter.
"You might see a few more half-time substitutions than in the past when you didn't really want to make those because you knew you'd only got a couple left, whereas now you can make a change at half-time and still make three in the second half. That gives you a lot of flexibility.”