Tactical substitutions

When substitutions came into X11 they were a great tool in helping to develop younger players. Thye are also a great tool in adjusting the flow of a game, but more often than not they can end up losing you the game.  There are a number of ways of using them effectively:

Sub out stronger players

The first way of substituting is to play your strongest lineup from the start and put in weaker players if you are winning. This is how I started using subs but I felt it cost me a lot of games by subbing in weaker players too early and allowing the opposition to come back. This was especially a problem if a player had previously been injured and the team was already weaker than I expected.

Sub out weaker players

An alternative approach is to play a weakened team from the start then sub in stronger players if they are needed. This sounds silly but it seems to work well. You might start 1-2 weaker players in midfield and defence say. X11 is setup such that around 60% of goals are scored in the 2nd half so having a weaker side at the start is less likely to cost you.

If you are winning all the way from the second half (when you are eligible to bring on subs) then you can leave your developing players on the whole game and gain much more DV. Alternatively if you bring a stronger player on later in the game they won't be fatigued and will likely have more impact.

Multiple layers

I tend to favour an approach where I have multiple sub options. For example I might try and substitute for a stronger player at 45 minutes if I'm losing. I may then increase my expectations and try again at 60 minutes if I have a draw or worse - pushing for the win. I can repeat this at 70/75 minutes incase the opposition pulls a goal back. towards the end of the game I may want to bring a stronger player on just as protection against losing my lead. The picture below shows some examples.

Note there is an alternative sub at 80 minutes for a different development player. This stops the later substitution for the stronger player if we are leading by 2 goals.

Obviously the types of substitution you do will depend on your expectations for the match. if you are facing strong opposition you may also have options to replace a strong players with a weaker one if you are losing and have multiple layers so you can only sub the weaker players on once you are sure you will lose.