Arsenal manager Unai Emery has explained why he prefers to make early substitutions, claiming that sometimes it is important to make a change regardless of how it may turn out.
Emery’s early Arsenal tenure has seen him often use early substitutions, with the Gunners yet to be leading at half time in a Premier League game this season.
And it has so far paid off for the club, with Arsenal leading the Premier League goals and assists charts for substitutes this season.
Talking about why he opts to make changes early, as quoted by the club’s official website, Emery said:
I learned in Spain with one coach, Javi Irureta. He trained in Deportivo La Coruna and had a big career as a coach.
[When] he was my coach, he said to us: ‘When I change it is because I want some change. Maybe it is positive, maybe it is negative but [it is] change.’
This was the first idea I received and I do in my mind. At other teams I have coached, some criticism of me was I changed usually very late. Here for example you are saying I change usually quickly.
It depends on the moment, how the match is going, but one situation we are living here is in the first half we couldn’t finish winning in the 15 matches in the Premier League. That is one reason, I need to [make changes].
