Depending upon competition regulations, the laws of soccer allow between three and an unlimited number of substitutions that can be made on either a permanent or rolling basis. Substitutes are typically introduced to minimise/offset the effects of fatigue, alter tactics, replace players deemed as underperforming or injured, and/or give playing time to youth players or to squad members returning from injury. While the match-day practices of substitutes include participation in the pre-match warm-up, and sporadic periods of rewarm-up activity, it is currently unclear as to whether these pre-entry preparations facilitate optimal match performance thereafter. Acknowledging the contextual factors that possibly influence substitutes' performance, this review summarises the presently available literature on soccer substitutes, and makes recommendations for future research. Literature searching and screening yielded 13 studies, which have typically focused on characterising: (1) the patterns, including timing, of substitutes' introduction; (2) indices of match-performance; and (3) the emotional experiences of soccer substitutes. The majority of substitutions occur after the first-half has ended (i.e. at half-time or during the second-half), with introduced players exceeding the second-half physical performances of those who started the match. Observations of progressive improvements in running performance as playing time increases, and findings that substitutes mostly experience negative emotions, highlight the potential inadequacies of pre-match preparations, and present future research opportunities. Additional work is therefore needed to confirm these findings and to determine the efficacy of current preparation strategies, thereby providing opportunities to assess then address substitutes' pre-pitch entry preparations, on-field performance and emotional responses.
Whilst the movement demands of players completing a whole soccer match have been well-documented, comparable information relating to substitutes is sparse. Therefore, this study profiled the match-day physical activities performed by soccer substitutes, focusing separately on the pre and post pitch-entry periods. Seventeen English Championship soccer players were monitored using 10 Hz Micromechanical Electrical Systems (MEMS) devices during 13 matches in which they participated as substitutes (35 observations). Twenty physical variables were examined and data were organised by bouts of warm-up activity (pre pitch-entry), and five min epochs of match-play (post pitch-entry). Linear mixed modelling assessed the influence of time (i.e., ‘bout’ and ‘epoch’), playing position, and match scoreline. Substitutes performed 3±1 rewarm-up bouts∙player-1∙match-1. Compared to the initial warm-up, each rewarm-up was shorter (-19.7 to -22.9 min) and elicited less distance (-606 to -741 m), whilst relative total distances were higher (+26 to +69 m∙min-1). Relative total (+13.4 m∙min-1) and high-speed (+0.4 m∙min-1) distances covered during rewarm-ups increased (p <0.001) with proximity to pitch-entry. Players covered more (+3.2 m; p = 0.047) high-speed distance per rewarm-up when the assessed team was losing compared with when winning at the time of pitch-entry. For 10 out of 20 variables measured after pitch-entry, values reduced from 0–5 min thereafter, and substitutes covered greater (p ˂0.05) total (+67 to +93 m) and high-speed (+14 to +33 m) distances during the first five min of match-play versus all subsequent epochs. Midfielders covered more distance (+41 m) per five min epoch than both attackers (p ˂0.001) and defenders (p = 0.016). Acknowledging the limitations of a solely movement data approach and the potential influence of other match-specific factors, such findings provide novel insights into the match-day demands faced by substitute soccer players. Future research opportunities exist to better understand the match-day practices of this population.
Objectives: To profile the distances covered during international women's rugby union match-play and assess the duration-specific worst-case scenario locomotor demands over 60-s to 600-s epochs, whilst comparing the values determined by fixed epoch (FIXED) versus rolling average (ROLL) methods of worst-case scenario estimation and assessing positional influences. Design: Descriptive, observational. Methods: Twenty-nine international women's rugby union players wore 10 Hz microelectromechanical systems during eight international matches (110 observations). Total, and per-half, distances were recorded, whilst relative total and high-speed (>4.4 m•s-1) distances were averaged using FIXED and ROLL methods over 60 to 600-s. Linear mixed models compared distances covered between match halves, assessed FIXED versus ROLL, and examined the influence of playing position. Results: Players covered ~5.8 km•match-1 , with reduced distances in the second-versus first-half (p<0.001). For worst-case scenario total (~8-25%) and high-speed (~10-26%) distance, FIXED underestimated ROLL. In ROLL, worst-case scenario relative total and high-speed distances reduced from ~144-161 m•min-1 and ~30-69 m•min-1 over 60-s, to ~80-89 m•min-1 and ~5-16 m•min-1 in the 600-s epoch, respectively. Forwards performed less high-speed running over all epochs and covered less total distance during epochs of 60-s, 180-s, 420-s and 480-s, compared with backs. Front row players typically returned the lowest locomotor demands. Conclusions: This is the first study reporting the positional and worst-case scenario demands of international women's rugby union, and indicates an underestimation in FIXED versus ROLL over 60-s to 600-s epochs. Knowledge of the most demanding periods of women's rugby union match-play facilitates training specificity by enabling sessions to be tailored to such demands.
Despite empirical observations suggesting that practitioners value the use of substitutions during soccer match-play, limited research has sought to substantiate such claims. This study used online surveys to assess the perceptions of practitioners within professional soccer about the use and practices of substitutes. Thirty-three practitioners completed one of two surveys (each requiring both open and closed questions to be answered), depending upon whether their primary role related mostly to tactical ('tactical practitioners'; n = 7) or physical ('physical practitioners'; n = 26) aspects of player/team management. Thematic content analysis of responses identified four higher-order themes:
Objectives: To compare fixed epochs (FIXED) and rolling averages (ROLL) for quantifying worst-case scenario ('peak') running demands during professional soccer match-play, whilst assessing contextual influences.Design: Descriptive, observational.Methods: Twenty-five outfield players from an English Championship soccer club wore 10-Hz microelectromechanical systems during 28 matches. Relative total and high-speed (>5.5 m•s -1 ) distances were averaged over fixed and rolling 60-s to 600-s epochs. Linear mixed models compared FIXED versus ROLL and assessed the influence of epoch length, playing position, starting status, match result, location, formation, and time-of-day.Results: Irrespective of playing position or epoch duration, FIXED underestimated ROLL for total (~7-10%) and high-speed (~12-25%) distance. In ROLL, worst-case scenario relative total and high-speed distances reduced from 190.1±20.4 m•min -1 and 59.5±23.0 m•min -1 in the 60-s epoch, to 120.9±13.1 m•min -1 and 14.2±6.5 m•min -1 in the 600-s epoch, respectively. Worst-case scenario total distance was higher for midfielders (~9-16 m•min -1 ) and defenders (~3-10 m•min -1 ) compared with attackers. In general, starters experienced higher worst-case scenario total distance than substitutes (~3.6-8.5 m•min -1 ), but lower worst-case scenario high-speed running over 300-s (~3 m•min -1 ). Greater worst-case scenario total and high-speed distances were elicited during wins (~7.3-11.2 m•min -1 and ~2.7-7.9 m•min -1 , respectively) and losses (~2.7-5.7 m•min -1 and ~1.4-2.2 m•min -1 , respectively) versus draws, whilst time-of-day and playing formation influenced worst-case scenario high-speed distances only.Conclusions: These data indicate an underestimation of worst-case scenario running demands in FIXED versus ROLL over 60-s to 600-s epochs while highlighting situational influences. Such information facilitates training specificity by enabling sessions to be targeted at the most demanding periods of competition.
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