Squad Depth

Makaveli

Just reading on the thread about players being unhappy because there are either too many or too few players at the club, it got me curious as to how many players people have in their squads.

I think you should have a replacement for every position basically, which means I have a decent enough sized squad. Rotation features heavily, but I have my preferred starting eleven and the rest slot in when players are tired/injured/suspended.

Anyway, here's my current sqaud (Barcelona, 2006/07)

Goalkeepers:
Robert Enke. Paul Robinson. Victor Valdes.

Defenders:
Left: Juan Pablo Sorin. Fernando Navarro. David Bermudo.
Right: William Gallas. Puyol.
Centre: Cristian Chivu. John O'Shea. Phillipe Mexes. John Terry. Michael Dawson.

Midfielders:
Left: Cristiano Ronald. Hugo Vianna. Thiago Motta. Marc Overmars.
Right: Alexander Farnerud. Ricardo Quaresma. Kaka.
Defensive Centre: Xavi. Kim Kallstrom. Andres Iniesta.
Attacking Centre: Juan Roman Riquelme. Mikel Arteta. Gerard. Freddy Adu.

Strikers: Patrick Kluivert. Javier Saviola. Mido. Cherno Samba. Guiza.

That's 32 players, and doesn't include any of the B team.


[edit]Actually 06/07 not 05/06 and Sorin has now left.[/edit]

kaimera

around 32 same as myself.

Charlton 06/07 and Madrid 04/05 have about 32.

altho I did have a disasterous run with Charlton due to 6 first team injuries and numerous suspensions.

I have my *first* eleven whom I play 85% of the time with rotation for certain positions: gk, lb, cd, cf

Lafortezza

I usually just try to have 2 quality players for each position in a
4-4-2, usually one player of quality and maybe one young talented player, so 22 players in my 1st team squad

Then in the reserves I'll have a few oldies and teenagers that can be brought up in case of severe injuries,

its nice to have players like farnerud and cristiano ronaldo though, very versatile

DerekD Goldfish

I like to keep me squads relitivly small going for quality not quantity im currently playing with alaves and couldnt aford a big squad anyway
Gk: Ricardo, Drutel
Dl: Placente, Atherson
Dr Manchini, Anderson
Dc Mexes, McEverly, Telez, Montero
Ml Duff, Atherson
MR Deigo, farnerud
Mc Arteta, Acuna
Amc Tiko, Estefana(spelling playes for sociadad great young player)
Fw Ivan Alonso, Robinho, Samba, Morientes
Altough there isnt many big names ive won the 4 la liga 4CL 3 spanish cup and 1 uefa cup in 5 years so there not doing too bad.

Makaveli

What happens when you get suspensions and injuries though?

DerekD Goldfish

Well a lot of my players are fairly versetile for example if both farnerud and deigo are injured Manchini can play right wing, if duff and Atherson are injured farnerud can play left, If Placente and Atherson are Injued McEvery Can play full back, should three of my 4 strikers be injured duff or farnerud can play up front, also
Anderson can play full back or midfeild either side and altough not amazing is a good utility player and Arteta can also do very well AM in truth its proberly his best position but the team is much more balanced with him being the link between defence and attack.
As I said alaves are a small club with a 19500 stadium with a board that refuse to expand it and my wages are already more than my gate recipts (only just but that never a good sign) so bringing in more players to form a bigger squad would mead the club we even more reliant on CL moneyand one or two bad seasons could break the club.
Squad depth could be one of the reasons I didnt run away with the league like last year (altough ive the same size squad now) only won it by 4 points instead of 22 proberly down to more injures suspensions and Ivan Alonso only scoring 35 form 51 with 25 assits and a rating of 8.31 which is down on his usual standard.

DapperGent

I generally will not to have any more than 22 players in my first team squad, if you have anymore than that you'll have lads not getting a game from one end of the season to the other which ain't good. Especially if they're young.

I'd put them in the reserves and only bring people up if the situation got desperate or someone was out longterm. In spanish games where you can't bring up a B team lad on the day of the game I'd stick with a squad of 24 making sure there's a bit of flexibility.

Current Barcelona squad of Wonder:

GK: Esteban, Bonano

DL: Athirson, McEveley

DR: Puyol, Johnson

DC: John Terry, Materazzi, Hofland, Gallas, Belletti

ML: Duff, Van der Vaart

MR: Cristiano Ronaldo, Joaquin

AMC: Deco, Diego

DMC: Xavi, Ze Elias, Viera.

FC: Vieri, Saviola, Robinho, Mpenza.

Gallas and Cristiano are RLC for when things get a bit tight and Belletti can play right back and midfield as well. Handy lads to have.

Makaveli

Ah you sold Iniesta. He's a damn good player, you should have held on to him. Unless he's in your reserves. Give him a game, he's well worth it.
Better than Xavi. Although Kallstrom is my first choice for the position.