the Bench Boys.....not the Beach Boys.

anyway, good commentary from everybody above. And of course any top 6 club has an amazing Bench.

now, help me to understand the Bench of the clubs in the bottom half of the table. Surely they face the same challenges as us ? talent, money, limited options etc....

Fresh legs ? Surely even Messi needs to come off the pitch after 75 minutes ?

Dodgy Legs ? surely Benteke & Luka didnt deserve to be in the starting line-up ?

tactics ? it was often said that Ole Gunnar Solskear was a better striker when he got to watch defenders for an hour, to figure them out.

Kayla did Anfield & Old Trafford

The difference in the teams at the bottom is that their benches are of the same standard as the team . Its why they are at the bottom . Teams like ours with better first elevens and weak squads are mid table , those with decent first elevens and good benches are top 10 , and so on until you end up at Manchester City whos 3rd best eleven would finnish in the top half never mind their 2nd who would finnish ,er, 2nd .

You make subs for one of two reasons - replace quality or improve physicality.

Let's play down the fresh legs piece a bit - they play 90 mins once a week. Many players in the league will be playing 90 mins twice a week plus European travel. They're incredibly fit - it isn't the 80s where players are walking around in the closing stages.

The bench is crap in terms of quality, as it was the last time Roy was here. Vieira had a comparatively blissful time in terms of depth. There's no-one on the bench currently who isn't a substantial downgrade on those on the pitch.

Compared to the end of last season, we've effectively swapped Lerma for Luka, and then lost McArthur, Butland, Zaha, Olise, Hughes from consideration. The bench is gone. We haven't replaced it, and a couple of injuries is all it takes to totally expose it.

26th January 2010 - Enter Administration
2nd May 2010 - D-Day 1 - Survival at Hillsborough
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bump.....bringing on players after 85 minutes.

Kayla did Anfield & Old Trafford

We are facing 3 games in 6 days,
West Ham last Sunday
Bournemouth tonight
Liverpool early Saturday.

Roy will have to use the subs with that schedule.

Hughes, Schlupp and Edouard rarely complete 90 mins when there is one game a week let alone three games.
I do suspect we’ll see Riedewald , Richards, Mateta and possibly Clyne at some point in the next two games.
I’m less convinced that we’ll see Ahamada and Franca other than for brief cameos.

Didn't watch but comments please on Franca brief appearance ?TIA