Macarthur coach Ante Milicic did what no-one had previously done in the A-League Men on Saturday when he made a triple substitution just 30 minutes into their clash against Central Coast Mariners.
After a lacklustre first half hour which was compounded by the Mariners opening the scoring via Marco Urena, Milicic felt wholesale change was needed.
While some managers would wait until half-time to roll the dice in such fashion, Macarthur's boss felt he had no choice but to replace three players before the break.
His bold change saw Aleksandar Jovanovic, Charles M'Mombwa and Moudi Najjar all taken off in favour of Aleksandar Susnjar, Jake Hollman and Lachlan Rose respectively.
There have been ten instances in Aus men's league of triple subs at half time (Melbourne Knights 15-11-98 was first) but never earlier than half time til Macarthur did it at 30' in #CCMvMAC @Ryans_Rovers
— andrew howe (@AndyHowe_statto) March 19, 2022
Remarkably, the historic triple sub did seem to work at first with the Bulls equalising just before half-time only for the Mariners to run out 4-2 winners.
Macarthur have won just one of their last five league matches and Milicic defended his decision to make a triple substition in record quick time on Saturday.
“Did you watch the first 30 minutes?” he said.
“I didn’t think it would get better from the 30th to the 45th minute.
“Coaches generally like to wait until half-time because it doesn’t cost them a (substitution) window, but what I saw in the first 30 minutes I was disappointed with more so the intensity, I thought we needed to change a few things and bring on some fresh personnel.
Down 1-0 to @marvinccmfc, Ante Milicic did the unthinkable…
— KEEPUP (@keepupau) March 19, 2022
3 subs in the 30th minute! 👀
It's certainly paid off for @mfcbulls who are now level at the break.
Follow LIVE: https://t.co/I3v7HLm4sY#CCMvMAC pic.twitter.com/qF10MoF185
“We just thought we looked off the pace.
“We looked slow. We were getting done too often in transition and in the end, we just put in a disappointing performance.
“We got it wrong, I got it wrong. That’s something that I’ve got to have a look at, whether it was the selection or what we did during the week.
“But with a seven-day turnaround, that’s the most disappointing part of it.”
Macarthur now have another seven-day turnaround with Melbourne City bound for Campbelltown Stadium next Saturday.
Milicic's side currently sit fourth in the A-League Men after 17 games of the regular season.
