Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says he was desperate to bring on Anthony Marital against Leicester City but ran out of substitutions to make.
The Red Devils kicked off the new Premier League season with a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford on Friday night thanks to goals from Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw.
Mourinho made three substitutions in the game, bringing on Romelu Lukaku, Scott McTominay and Marouane Fellaini in the second half.
Martial remained on the bench, having been criticised by his manager for not returning to United's pre-season tour after the birth of his son, but the Portuguese coach says he would have been a perfect impact sub against Leicester.
He explained: 'I want to make tactical changes but I can't make them because I'm afraid of how the players will react to minutes.
'I wanted to play Martial in a certain minute, in a certain moment I felt that he was perfect to stretch the game and to get them in the counter.
'But I was afraid to play him because I knew that Paul couldn't resist for 90 and Fred would be in trouble.'
He explained that further to Sky Sports, saying: 'A match where I needed six changes not three. Not enough for me. I wanted to play Martial for Mata or Alexis but I can't.
Mourinho felt he could have used six subs, let alone three
'I know that Paul doesn't resist for 90, the same with Fred. I need more changes but I couldn't. So it was not easy to manage the game by the touchline point of view.
'In the second half I have Andreas Pereira and Fred both with a yellow card. Paul, he was fantastic his contribution was amazing, but the fuel was disappearing every minute so we were in trouble and I needed Fellaini and McTominay to give me that balance in midfield.
'But at the same time I felt I wanted more in attack, I felt that Martial coming into the game last 20 minutes for Mata or Alexis it could bring us a second goal, but I couldn't make that change so it was really hard.'
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