Football might be largely the same game it has always been, but there have been countless changes to the sport over the years. Bill Shankly didn’t live to see the abolition of the back pass rule, much less nation states owning football clubs or refereeing decisions being made by officials watching videos hundreds of miles away. It’s fascinating to wonder what he might have made of it all.
The great man was in charge of Liverpool when one innovation graced the beautiful game for the first time though. Substitutions were allowed in English football from the start of the 1965/66 season, and it was Geoff Strong who made a small part of Reds history in the seventh league game of that campaign.
He was both Liverpool’s first ever sub and first man to score from the bench, grabbing the equaliser in a 1-1 draw with West Ham at Anfield ( via LFCHistory ). It says everything for how important in-game changes have since become that the Reds got more goals from subs in 2005/06, as an example, than Shankly managed in the final nine years of his managerial career.
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With the Premier League permitting five substitutions from the start of next season – having begrudgingly caught up with the rest of European football at last – the importance of having good options to call upon from the bench will become more important than ever before.
Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Everton last weekend was a perfect example of this. With his side having toiled for an hour without producing a shot on target, much less a goal, Jurgen Klopp summoned Luis Diaz and Divock Origi to replace Sadio Mane and Naby Keita respectively.
It was the Belgian who made the quickest impact, providing the pre-assist for Andy Robertson’s opener with his first touch two minutes after joining the fray. The second goal was even more of a collector’s item when it comes to the influence of substitutes.
Jordan Henderson replaced Diogo Jota in the 82 nd minute, and for his second pass of the match he crossed the ball to Diaz on the left side of the box. The Colombian’s overhead kick might not have found the net but it did reach Origi, who headed the ball past a despairing Jordan Pickford.
There’s unfortunately no easy to way to locate other goals where substitutes made the final three contributions, but it must be rare. When Liverpool won 3-2 at Atletico Madrid earlier this season, subs Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jota combined to earn the penalty from which Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal, and even having two non-starters so heavily involved will be fairly unusual.
Not that Klopp, or any manager, is always looking for every substitute to make such a noticeable impression, of course. They’re just aiming for them to improve the way the team performs in the closing stages of a match, and the Reds having arguably their strongest and deepest ever squad has unquestionably helped there.
But goals pay the rent and Liverpool’s subs have done their share in 2021/22. The Reds have scored nine league goals from the bench this season, the most in the Premier League, and only Chelsea (with seven) can top their tally of six sub assists.
Only six men in Europe’s big five leagues can better Origi’s total of three substitute goals – which he has collected across just 102 minutes of action, also scoring at West Ham and Wolves – while Roberto Firmino has three in the Champions League, the joint-most along with his countryman Gabriel Jesus. As Firmino's trio included the opener against Inter Milan when the Manchester City forward’s goals came in the Group Stage, the Liverpool man could arguably lay claim to being the most potent sub in Europe this term.
It took Liverpool 26 years to see their first 80 goals from substitutions when Klopp’s changes have bagged that many in under seven. With football in England set to make a small but important change in August, the Reds look very well set to take advantage of it by further utilising the strength of their squad.
