Revealed: Why Tottenham were allowed to make SIX substitutions in their Premier League opener against Leicester

Jamie Vardy announced his return to the Premier League with a goal on Monday night, helping newly promoted Leicester City.

It was a tough start to the new season for Ange Postecoglou’s team. Despite controlling the game, they were unable to hold on to their one-goal lead.

Pedro Porro’s header into the bottom right corner on 29 minutes gave Tottenham the upper hand in the match. But as their manager Postecoglou admitted late in the game, Tottenham failed to capitalise on their chances. That would ultimately cost them dearly.

Eight years after beating Spurs to the title, it was Vardy who returned to score his ninth Premier League goal against the north London club, helping Leicester take a point from their opening game of the season. Announcing his return to the top flight, Vardy, unmarked at the far post, headed in Issahaku Fatawu’s cross to equalise for the Foxes.

“(It was a) disappointing result,” Postecoglou said after the game. “Very dominant first half, really wasteful in front of goal.

‘The first 15-20 minutes we were very dominant, wasteful, but you know that when it’s 1-0 there’s always a chance for the opponent to come back into the game. That’s what happened and we lost our way for 15 or 20 minutes.

‘We lost our composure and the crowd got behind them, but we finished strongly again. I’m just very disappointed that we weren’t sharp enough in the first half of the game, that we made some wrong decisions, that we didn’t have the composure and that we didn’t get the reward that our football deserved.’

With 20 minutes remaining, there were also disturbing scenes when Spurs midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur was knocked out after colliding head-on with Leicester’s Abdul Fatawu as he took a corner.

He was later replaced by Archie Gray, who arrived in the summer and brought the former Leeds midfielder on as a concussion replacement.

Tottenham would go on to make five more substitutions in the second half. But some fans have questioned how Postecoglou’s side were allowed to make six substitutions.

Hoping for a winning goal, Postecoglou decided to bring on attackers Timo Werner and Dejan Kulusevski in the 78th minute, while midfielders Gray and Lucas Bergvall also came on.

Later in the match, Postecoglou had to replace Pedro Porro for right-back Djed Spence in injury time, with the former apparently suffering from a soft tissue injury. Richarlison also came on for Son Heung-min, just minutes before the end of the match.

In the Premier League, teams are allowed to make a maximum of five tactical substitutions over three occasions during a match. This rule was first introduced at the start of the 2022-23 season.

In 2021, the top managers of the top football team agreed to trial the International Football Association Board (IFAB) recommended rules for concussed substitutes, with a view to introducing additional measures to protect players from neurological injury following head injuries, and ensuring teams are not put at a numerical disadvantage.

This means that teams will be allowed to make up to two additional substitutions during a match, on top of the five tactical substitutions they are allowed to make, if a player sustains a head injury and shows symptoms of concussion.

After a medical assessment, if doctors believe the substituted player is showing symptoms of concussion, that player will not be allowed to return to the field of play. If they are cleared to continue, the player will be allowed to return to the field.

Any player on the team’s nine-substitute list can come on as a concussion substitute, even if the team has made all tactical changes.

Bentancur was Tottenham’s first substitution of the game, but his substitution was due to a concussion, meaning Postecoglou had to make five more tactical changes for the remainder of the game.

Postecglou gave an update on Bentancur’s condition after the match and was asked if the midfielder was knocked out.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “If it’s a head injury and you see a player fall, I think nowadays we’re always cautious at that moment and I don’t know the real circumstances, but I know it was a head impact.”