Bristol Rovers: Matt Taylor shortcoming still evident despite Charlton Athletic victory - View | OneFootball

Bristol Rovers have shared their views on Matt Taylors use of his subs

Bristol Rovers finally put their losing streak to an end on Tuesday night, following four straight defeats, with a 3-2 victory over Charlton Athletic. It would be Rovers' fourth straight league victory against Charlton.

The Gas started the game on the front foot with spells of the fast and fluid football Rovers had been missing since an initially positive opening to the 2024-25 campaign. After two sensational long-range strikes from captain Scott Sinclair and newcomer Jamie Lindsay -announcing himself to the Rovers faithful - James Wilson then made it three for the Gas as they looked set for a less nervy finish than the one that saw them go down to a last-minute winner against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.

Some have said it was Bristol Rovers’ best performance of the season so far and manager Matt Taylor was praised by former Rovers hero Lee Mansall for his “spot on” tactics, although the biggest criticism to come from the game was around Taylor's use of his substitutes.

The Gas were somewhat in control of the game when Taylor made three substitutions on 71 minutes - at 3-0 in front, Taylor may be forgiven for thinking he could be relaxed about making his substitutions with Charlton not posing the Gas a substantial threat up to that point. Taylor chose to bring on 21-year-old Jake Garrett with Luke McCormick and young loanee Michael Forbes, with young attackers Shaq Forde and Gatlin O’Donkor coming on a few minutes later.

Some have argued he shouldn’t have used all his subs, but perhaps it’s less about how many of his subs he used but more about when Taylor chose to use them. And even the subs he didn’t use.

The job of a manager is, of course, to weigh up all the possibilities and Taylor will have been mindful that with Rovers playing three games in a week he had to manage his squad – Taylor in fact revealed his thinking about this several times this week, post Charlton and in his preview of Burton Albion on Saturday. This will often be the case throughout an unrelenting season.

It could be argued that he perhaps should’ve waited a few more minutes before making any changes. With still plenty of time remaining for Charlton to get a sniff of a comeback, waiting slightly longer may have been a safer point to gauge changes.

Isaac Hutchinson and Luke Thomas were unused substitutes against Charlton and, in hindsight, you wonder whether Taylor might have opted for their experience and defensive acumen rather than the inexperience of four players under 21. While Hutchinson has yet to make his mark at Rovers, Thomas has generally had a strong start to the season with his defensive qualities particularly standing out so far this term.

It did seem clear that the substitutions disrupted the flow of the game, with Rovers unable to get a handle on Charlton in the closing stages of the match. Whether that was because players weren’t up to the pace of the match or their inexperience is something the players and the manager will have to learn.

The Addicks immediately got a first, as Rovers made all their changes, and they began a relentless pursuit of the unthinkable, just falling short in the end, to the delight and relief of Gasheads.

Taylor will need just as much luck as wisdom

It is arguably one of any manager's trickiest decisions – when to make substitutions - particularly in-game when they can have very little influence once the players have crossed the white line.

Of course, it would also be important to note that Taylor was widely praised for how his substitutions affected the game positively against Peterborough when they almost completed a late resurgence of their own, pulling the match back to 3-2 with goals from subs Luke McCormick and Gatlin O’Donkor. On that day, his decisions with the subs completely changed the direction of the game.

It’s almost impossible to get it right on every occasion. At this moment in time, it's Taylor's use of his bench that is coming under scrutiny despite a win, which came under threat after the Bristol Rovers boss tinkered. For many, it's a shortcoming of his that needs discussing.

When it goes well, you’re a genus. When it goes badly you should have done this or that. One thing for sure is, Taylor will need just as much luck as wisdom if he is to reverse Rovers' form of one win in five and truly put things back on track.