Five-substitute rule is perfect for Barnsley FC says Valerien Ismael

Ismael elected to bring off one of the club’s stars of the season in Callum Styles at the interval during the Reds’ victory over Blackburn Rovers - with Jordan Williams providing an energy rush in the second half.

Having covered so much ground in the games against Chelsea and Brentford, Ismael elected to give Styles a breather - and envisages giving other players some rest when the need arises amid the Reds schedule and their relentless high-energy style.

In that regard, few sides have benefited more from the five-substitute rule brought in mid-November than Barnsley and it is a change that has understandably gone down very well with Ismael.

He said: “I am delighted about the five substitutes (rule) because it gives you the possibility to have more impact on the game and to decide what is going on.

“In some situations, you are more patient and wait for the right time to make the change.

“Stylesy was tired and it was not his best game, but it is not a problem because now we have a possibility to do something else to put Jordan Williams on and give another impact on the game and this is exactly what we need.

“We need all the players up until the end and we have to stay in that way, stay focused and keep the momentum going.

“It was just tactical with him (Styles) and we needed more energy on the left hand. We know what Stylesy can do, but last week was a tough week for him and he works really, really hard.

“That is why with this schedule and only two games to prepare for the next game that it can happen that one guy has not the best performance one day.

“We can rotate the players and have a lot of possibilities and know you see that if everything goes in the right direction like we worked on in the transfer windows, now we are more adaptable to the Championship.”

Wednesday’s victory saw Barnsley pass the forty-point mark for the season in double-quick time, with the only downer on another significant night arriving when Adam Armstrong pulled a goal back in the third minute of stoppage time for Rovers.

Ismael added: “We controlled a lot of things and now we can go more into the details to make some critical analysis. You cannot concede that goal.

“We wanted a clean sheet and we had to avoid the pass in the middle because Blackburn wanted to come quickly in behind. But it is three points and we move forward in the table and it is important for us.”