England boss Gareth Southgate wholeheartedly agrees with Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola that the Premier League should introduce the five-subs rule for this season.
The Liverpool and Manchester City managers have been leading the charge for the change, which would bring our league into line with every other major competition on the planet.
The Premier League clubs voted in majority against the five-subs rule, with smaller clubs believing it would give the larger ones too much of an advantage – but it’s not about this – it’s about player welfare.
The number of games elite footballers are being expected to play now in a short space of time is leading to debilitating muscle injuries.
Just at Liverpool’s current treatment room – it’s a farcical and the team we’re going to field v Leicester City won’t even be reminiscent of our strongest.
“We were able to make five changes against Belgium, we made four in the end and clubs don’t have that option,” Southgate told Sky Sports.
“What will it take for that to change? There were a couple of less serious injuries against Belgium but what do we do? Wait until we get a load of really nasty ones?
“I have to be fair to the club managers. They are their players firstly and they have the right to play them as they see fit,” he added.
“(Injuries are) a worry in the longer term because with no winter break, something has to give.”
Sadly, we can’t see the situation changing any time soon. All we can hope for is that no more of our players get injured of COVID-19 before returning to the new training facility at the end of this week – before our crunch top of the table clash on Sunday night.