Depth is so important

I just wanted to know your thoughts on how important squad depth actually can be

In my first few seasons at Newcaslte I had around 14 players who I could actually trust on the pitch and if there was an injury who I could replace with . So I had many players who were on big wages and they never simply got a game even in the small games

5 Years later I have built a squad with 8 Defenders - 4 Centre Midfielders - 4 Wingers and 4 Strikers

And I can trust every player to come in and do a job if needed unlike before

Also the 4 strikers have really helped my firepower mainly this year .

i always make sure i have at least 22 players i can use at that level. though of course the bench players won't be as good but i normally look for quality players on the bench that can play two or three positions and back them up with four or five first team youngsters.

I play with Valencia and I have 27 players in the squad. Depth is very important. 25 playes can be registered but i have two others that I use in Spanish Cup games. keeping them happy is a challenge

I always use the same organization for the teams I manage whatever the league:

- Select 22 players + 3 to be able to change tactics during the season if I have no versatile players among the 22.

- Choose the best 11 and save the selection as BEST TEAM

- Mix good and weak players to have TEAM A and TEAM B

- Play TEAM A and TEAM B alternatively to give all my players some match fitness

- If my players are bad and I need a good run at the end of the season I only play BEST TEAM for the last 5-7 matches to get the max out of my team.

I play in MLS and have come up with a system that I find works well for me. I have my 11 starters be of a caliber that can compete with any competition I might be likely to face. I then have 7 substitutes who are up-and-coming (by MLS standards) or at the end of their career and are great off-the-bench guys. I then have anywhere from 4 - 10 developmental players that I loan out to my feeder clubs to pump them up. We do not have reserve squads, so I use the developmental guys as players I might be able to look to in a year-or-two. My overall roster size is typically from 22 - 28. the depth piece is absolutely critical, in my mind. Here's what I do with these 7 subs and "X" number of developmental players:

S1 = back-up keeper; always younger than starter and up-and-coming

S2 = cb; to be used as part of rotation with my 2 cb's on the field

S3 = wb; to be used as part of rotation...

S4 = dm; back-up to starter; i prefer up-and-coming here

S5 = wm; to be used as part of rotation...

S6 = am; back-up to starter; should be able to step in at a moment's notice

S7 = st; to be used as part of rotation...

For my developmental kids (NO OLDER THAN 20 WHEN I SIGN THEM TO A 2-YEAR DEAL)

Must have a stud-kid as a keeper who I can loan out to a feeder club for experience. This guy has to be legit enough to come in as my #2 keeper next year. I also must have at least one high-potential (typically 4-stars or more) kid at defender, midfield and forward. If I can find several players like this, then great for me!

I realize this system is probably different than what folks who play FM in the EPL use but it works well for me in MLS. I would encourage anyone wanting to play MLS to try it and make sure you have AT LEAST 3 feeder teams by your second year.