Gary McAllister has called on English football chiefs to show mercy on Aston Villa and the rest of the English Premier League by green-lighting a return to five substitutes.
McAllister was in the Villa dugout for their clash with Chelsea on Sunday with Steven Gerrard stuck in isolation due to Covid.
He was forced to pick from a depleted group with seven players, including Scotland's John McGinn, unavailable.
And Villa were beaten 3-1 by the title-chasing Blues as they slumped to 11th place in the table.
It was their third defeat in five games as Gerrard and McAllister's flying start since joining from Rangers has hit some turbulence.
After the game, however, McAllister used his post-match interview to call for a return to the five-substitute rule that was initially brought in at the end of the 2019/20 season to allow clubs to rest extra players.
He told the BBC: "For me it's a must.
"We're putting too much demands on the players and it's simply not enough time to recover.
"Throw the pandemic in there as well, it just becomes nearly impossible to prepare a starting XI for each and every game.
"There's a lot of testing again so everything just becomes more difficult."
