Substitutes rule has sunk Aston Villa twice

Villa were among the clubs who voted against the change, claiming it would favour teams with larger squads.

The momentum in Sunday’s match shifted when Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp made a triple change – something which has become more common under the new law – bringing on Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum and Roberto Firmino.

McGinn said: “We can’t thank the guy that invented the five-sub rule – it’s affected us twice.

“It’s a little bit of a bitter pill to swallow, but it’s up to us to get the goals, create the chances we did, and be clinical.

“It (the Liverpool triple sub) was the same at Chelsea.

“We worked so hard to get in front and we’ve got to be stronger and focused for longer.

“But you’re coming to the champions, which is already an uphill task, it does get tougher with that rule and make it a lot more difficult.”