The Football Tragic

Another rumination from me on the issue of substitutions and the appropriate timing thereof, to add to some earlier posts. The spur for this one? Last night's lively NSW Premier League match between Sutherland and Sydney Olympic.

Former Central Coast midfield general Andre Gumprecht, having completed his coaching qualifications recently, is now in charge at Olympic, following the sacking of the unfortunate Pat Marando. (Gumprecht thereby becomes Olympic's ninth coach in five years, which says a lot about the management of the club during that time. But I digress.)

Gumprecht may have completed his coaching course to the FFA's satisfaction, but to my mind he showed his inexperience in the dugout in instructive fashion during the game at Seymour Shaw. Olympic had looked the better side in the first half, deservedly going in front on the half-hour. Thirteen minutes into the second, the hosts equalised, a silly handball from the talented but unpredictable Dimitri Petratos handing Sutherland a cheap penalty, which was slotted away confidently by an under-the-weather Panny Nikas.

So, 1-1 with half an hour to go. Both sides were in dire need of three points. Soon, Sutherland coach Robbie Stanton made a change, replacing Nikas with a quick youngster. Olympic's midfield started to lose the thread of the game. On and on the game went: 70 minutes, 75 minutes, and Sutherland are getting on top...still no movement from Gumprecht.

On comes Sutherland's second sub Misha Hardwick on 80 minutes, and immediately the young winger sets up the winning goal for Ben Vidaic. Suddenly, all is panic on the Olympic bench. Gumprecht springs into action, readying young Aleks Jovovic for his entrance. Off comes defensive lynchpin Angelo Petratos (father of the aforementioned Dimitri), and Gumprecht signals for the new man to join the forward line.

And now we see just what happens when substitutions are made out of desperation rather than deliberation. Without the vastly experienced Petratos senior, Olympic's defence is made up of a converted midfielder in Tayfun Devrimol, the attack-minded Nick Tsattalios, and the inexperienced Jerry Kalouris.

Not surprisingly, the defence becomes a disaster area at a stroke, and in the brief interval between the substitution of Jovovic and the final whistle, Sutherland have no fewer than five excellent chances to finish Olympic off...all spurned by their teenage forward line. At the other end, Olympic offer next to nothing, since their young sub has not yet really had time to adapt himself to the game.

To quote those pertinent words of Gordon Jago again:

"For a tactical switch involving a substitute to have any chance of working, it should be made at least fifteen to twenty minutes before the end. That is really an absolute minimum time to allow the substitute to get into the game; for others on the field to adjust to his arrival, and for any change of tactics to become workable."