Chris Davies has expressed frustration over the EFL rule that limits Birmingham City to an 18-man squad for League One matches. This restriction has forced the Blues manager to leave experienced players out of his squad for the first two games of the season. For instance, Tyler Roberts, who was a regular in the Premier League for Leeds United just two years ago, traveled with the team to Wycombe Wanderers but didn’t make it onto the field. Similarly, Siriki Dembélé was left out of the squad, and 17-year-old Romelle Donovan, who impressed during pre-season, hasn’t seen any playing time yet this season.
League One teams are limited to a bench of seven players, and in the recent game against Wycombe, Davies had to use a sixth substitution after Willum Willumsson suffered a head injury, leaving only the backup goalkeeper Ryan Allsop unused.
Davies commented, “I think you would be a lot better off, especially when there’s five subs and possibly six with concussion, just doing a 20-man squad. I don’t see the reason for it being different in League One, and I think it’s something they should look at moving forward. It keeps players involved and will probably add more to the games because there are different options for managers. There doesn’t seem to be a reason that you wouldn’t do it.”
He added that the change to larger benches and increased substitutions occurred during lockdown, and he finds it disappointing that League One hasn’t adopted this practice. Davies hopes that the rule might be reconsidered for the next season, as it would allow more players to stay involved and provide managers with more tactical options.
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