Sturrock’s Subs

Much has been made about Paul Sturrock’s apparent late use of his substitutions during matches but the reality is that the Argyle boss is on a par with the opposition when it comes to making changes.

A trawl through the statistics for Argyle’s 16 Championship matches this season reveals that Sturrock has made 44 substitutions with the average time of his changes clocked in the 73rd minute.
By comparison Argyle’s opposition in those 16 games have, on average, made their substitutions in the 65th minute, just eight minutes earlier than Sturrock.

Fans have criticised the Argyle supremo for failing to make changes to the team when Plan A is not working, although it’s rare for any manager, let alone Sturrock, to make early changes unless injuries force unwanted substitutions.

Sturrock is a cautious manager and he is never going to make drastic changes before or even during half time, the stats show that he will make his changes, on average, in the 73rd minute; this gives the new player(s) at least 17 minutes to make an impact on the game.

Where some fans think that Sturrock could improve on his use of substitutions is to send on attacking players instead of defensive-type players. The canny Scotsman has a habit of shoring up a team by sending on a defender or defensive midfielder rather than an attacking player who might score a goal and put the result beyond doubt rather than the team grimly holding on with ten players behind the ball, waiting for the final whistle.

Do you think that Sturrock leaves the timing of his substitutions too late?