Sammy Lander, who has developed a methodology to optimize the impact of substitutes, recently presented his work to the coaches and board of Everton FC, currently ranked 16th in the Premier League. A trailblazer and the first specialist in this area, the coach gave a fascinating and engaging talk on our platform, explaining how to maximize the contribution of substitutes in the short, medium, and long term. Here are a few highlights from his presentation:
- “Today, players associate their status with playing time. Our role is to show them they can add value in other ways.”
- “When asked what they expect from their substitutes, coaches and managers admit that they make substitutions primarily based on instinct and hope. In other words, there isn’t real analysis of what makes a good substitute and what a good substitute should do.”
- “By analyzing the data, we found that 50% of substitutes didn’t exceed the volume of play of the starters (even though they’re supposed to bring energy, freshness and increased activity).”