“Chris Wilder says I am selfish. I think all the things he says shows he is selfish. They have three subs and one point if I am right.”
That infamous line (via Empire of the Kop) was uttered more than three years ago now, but it will go down in history as an iconic Jürgen Klopp moment. The Liverpool manager ultimately got his wish, too, with the Premier League finally following the rest of Europe’s major leagues and permanently reinstating the five-substitute rule.
Meanwhile, Wilder is back in the division as well, at the helm of an almost historically bad Sheffield United side. The Blades never threatened to help Liverpool out in the title race recently as Arsenal sought to make the most of its game in hand, with Mikel Arteta’s men 4-0 up and out of sight within 20 minutes.
After the third goal flew in, Wilder made an early substitution in a doomed attempt to turn the tide. Or perhaps he was simply mindful of avoiding the 9-0 record defeat, in which case the extra defender did his job, with the damage eventually limited to six.
Having introduced Ben Osborn for Oliver Norwood, Sheffield United would shuffle the pack again at half-time, making a further three alterations. Already, Wilder had exceeded the three-substitute limit for which he had once fought so hard, as he looked in vain for solutions.
By minute 64, Wilder had made his fifth and final change. If Klopp was watching, he should have allowed himself a laugh, as the Sheffield United boss made full use of the rule change against which he had railed.
The original crux of Wilder’s case was that big teams with strong squads would get an unfair advantage from more substitutions. Blown away by half-time against an Arsenal side that had not made any changes, it’s clear that the substitutes were never the problem for Sheffield United, which lacks the personnel or tactical acumen to compete in the top flight, just as it did in its last stay in the division.
On the other side of the coin, Wilder might in a sense feel somewhat vindicated. Klopp has always been a fierce advocate for player welfare, and there’s still nothing to suggest that the Liverpool boss was ever being ‘selfish’, but there’s little doubt that he has taken full advantage of having five substitutes.
Liverpool has only made marginally more Premier League substitutions than Sheffield United so far this season, with Klopp making 119 changes to Wilder’s 111. But the gulf in goal involvements is massive.
Per Opta Analyst, Klopp has managed to engineer a huge 22 league goal involvements from his substitutes, compared to just six for Wilder. But Sheffield United is not uniquely disadvantaged in this respect — Liverpool is leaving the rest of the division behind, producing four more goal involvements than its nearest competitor (Arsenal).
In fact, Klopp needs just two more goal involvements from substitutes to equal the Premier League record, set by Manchester City in 2011/12. The last of those contributions came from a certain Mario Balotelli, passing the ball to Sergio Agüero.
With the title race incredibly finely poised, few would bet against a similarly dramatic moment for Liverpool further down the line. But by then, the substitution record is likely to have long since been surpassed, with Klopp averaging only a little less than a contribution per game from his bench.
In all competitions, the gulf to other competitors grows. Klopp’s subs have chipped in with 43 goal contributions, and no side in Europe’s top five leagues can get within 13 of that total. In terms of Premier League teams, Aston Villa comes closest, with 23.
Some of that is undoubtedly down to enviable strength in depth, a point Wilder would be quick to make. Darwin Núñez has made more of a mark from the bench than anyone else, recording eight goal contributions, while Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold are next on the list.
But Klopp’s in-game prowess has extended through the recent injury crisis. Liverpool sunk Southampton in the FA Cup with the help of a brace from Jayden Danns. Back-up left-back Kostas Tsimikas got the winning assist in the Carabao Cup final.
Ultimately, this incredible use of the bench is just another facet of Klopp’s superb managerial acumen. It’s yet another thing that Liverpool will miss come the end of the season — but there are three trophies to win before then, and there’s little doubt that substitutes will continue to play a key role along the way.
