big squad or little squad?

I can never decide whats better to have, a big squad or a little squad! biq squad has its advantages (lots of cover for injuries/loads of options) but alot of players in my squad barely get a game a season... plus most people are unhappy that they are not a first team regular i usually end up with 40/50+ players.... anyone got any ideas on which is better?

Dom:D

i usually try have a good 20 youths in under 18's at all times, a load of freebies or not so good players,again 20 of them in reserves and around 19 first team players. That way all my teams win their leagues usually so for me, small teams

about 25 in the first team squad i feel is best. any amount in the reserves and then about 10-15 in the youth side.

i just have 11 rotation players and the rest i get from the youth and if they complain bout playing time i will release them.or set out for loan.

I used to have big squads, even lower down in the leagues, but then I found it was difficult playing any of my youth team, so now I keep it smaller and if the injuries pile up I can use my youth players.

I used to have big squads, even lower down in the leagues, but then I found it was difficult playing any of my youth team, so now I keep it smaller and if the injuries pile up I can use my youth players.

see thats what i start doing, but then i cant help myself sign that wonder player on a free when his contract runs out thats why i currently have about 10 strikers

Dom

I always have two players for:

LB, RB, RW, LW.

3 Goalkeepers.

One goalkeeper normally a teenager.

5 playes:

CB, CM, ST.

Normally between 25 and 30 is a good squad for me, not to big, easy to rotate, and not many get unhappy.

A small first team but excellent youth so i have decent back ups.

I find 23-25 is the right size for the first team, i just need to make sure i have cover in my U19 squad.

My base 11 + subs(7 on the list, 1 goalie and 6 field players(2D/2M/2A) + 1 extra on each line (D/M/A).

So about 21-22 players is more then enough in the first team, with some quality youngsters in the B and youth team as backup's for injuries.

General rule of thum for me is two players for every position,plus my youth players in-case of daft injuries an suspensions.

I do the mourinho philosophy and have 22 players and the rest are U18's.

I usually have quite a big squad and sign players as and when I feel like it so I sometimes end up with 15 midfielders and only 1 out and out left-back just because I sign players either that I spot or my scouts recommend and I like.

I went through an entire season at Whitley Bay though with a small squad (we only had 14 players when the season kicked off, no U18s either!). After a few games I had built a big enough squad to cover injuries and the like in terms of bodies, but the squad only had 2 strikers the whole season despite me playinig 4-4-2 and the game conspiring against me so that every time a player got injured it was one of my strikers! I also only had 1 goalkeeper in the squad for half the season before promoting one of my grey players just to have an extra body.

i always have 25 players give or take one player. two for each position, plus a cb, mc and st. all my promising youth that aren't ready for first team action go in the reserves, a few on loan, but mostly reserves for back up. don't really do much with my u-18's

Depends what team I am but if I'm at a big club then probably around 25. 2 players for each position then a few utility players that can play a number of positions.. like United have O'Shea and Fletcher etc, not necessarily great players but they can do a job wherever if needed.. Liverpool have Arbeloa who can play all along the back four, Benayoun the same in midfield.. etc etc

I can't stand being in a situation where players I consider quality can't get a game. So I always try to keep a relatively small squad.

My squad would be :

3 GK (2 First team , 1 Reserve)

8 D (6 First team , 2 Reserve)

10 M (8 First team , 2 Reserve)

5 F (3 First team , 2 Reserve)

= 26 (19) Players in first team and Reserves

I can't stand being in a situation where players I consider quality can't get a game. So I always try to keep a relatively small squad.

I just like to make sure I can put a quality team out on the pitch. I don't care about the quality of the players left out, other than for financial reasons of course - I don't generally like having a load of guys sat in my reverves on £40k per week!

I always have a first team squad of 22, 2 players for each position. When at a club playing European football, or any club in England (given the size of the leagues and two domestic competitions) they are usually all needed.

When not playing European football, playing in a small league (less than 20 teams) and only one domestic cup, I'll still aim for a squad of 22, but have no reserve team and honour my reserve fixtures with a combination of my youth team and first team squad that aren't getting games of late (to keep them match fit for the first team in case of injuries/suspensions)

Hi im new to the forum. i find that mainly i have a squad with 2 players for every position. in my current game with Portsmouth i have a large squad so i transfer list all the players i dont need and stick them in the reserves with the youth.

I usually have 22 players, 2 for each position, seems to work fine for me, sure you still get a couple who become unhappy but it's not a major problem.

If you guys say you have small under 18 squads (15-20 players) then what do you do with the excess players? Do you release the players who are not projected to be of any quality?

When playing with Bayern I normally end up with a huge under 18 squad because only a few get promoted and I get a big influx of new youngsters every year.

Should I be releasing most of them and keep a small squad? Is it important to have a small under squad so they play more often?

i normally have 20 - 24 players depending on how good my younglings are - the better the youngsters the smaller my first team needs to be.

If you guys say you have small under 18 squads (15-20 players) then what do you do with the excess players? Do you release the players who are not projected to be of any quality?

When playing with Bayern I normally end up with a huge under 18 squad because only a few get promoted and I get a big influx of new youngsters every year.

Should I be releasing most of them and keep a small squad? Is it important to have a small under squad so they play more often?

Good questions mate... some I wouldn't mind answers to....

I like to think i have an average squad. Again they not all get games but i have around 25 - 30 first team and 20 reserves with youths behind them. All of my first teamers could probably walk into any team in the league and reserve players arent far behind either.

I try to make sure that I have about 23 players in my first team squad.

3 Goalkeepers

8 Defenders - 2DL, 2DR, 4DC

8 Midfielders - 2ML, 2MR, 4MC

4 Strikers

The smaller the 1st team squad the better for me. i like having 11 established 1st steamers and about 2 or 3 that coudl rotate with these players happily. generally myy defence stays the same barring injury and suspensions so I like having strength with wingers and a striker.

The rest of the 1st team squad would ideally be filled with youth team products whom i look to blood for experience.

the best squads always have one or 2 utility men that can cover a multitude of positions, these players cna be worth their weight in gold. this is why i always train a player in another position (as long as it doesngt ake them unhappy!)

Seeing as I am a LLM i have an exteremely small squad, because of wages, and don't even have a right back in my Braintree game, got one in youth though!

If I start with a small club I tend to get alot of youngsters in on a free and whittle them down to the squad I want by the end of the season

In my current save I had a squad of about 70 a few months ago. Since then I've released my entire youth team except a few who I'm told will be special (ass man before you ask!), and sold on a few reserves. I normally keep about 18 in the first team squad, and move them to the reserves if they get injured/suspended.

I prefer to have a squad of players between 23 to 27 (first team) anymore than that and I am struggling to keep everyone happy, this is usually with the bigger clubs. Smaller teams I would be happy with 20 to 25 because of the financial constraints.

I prefer to have smaller squads however I always end up having big squads - I've given up on small squads on 08 but with 09 I'm going to try and have smaller squads and use youth players more. But that might not happen either.

well by the looks of it most of you guys are saying smaller is better so i have started to trim down my squad i sold veloso for £15 million, Kalou for £10 million, Aaron for £15 million, plus i have had a £7 million bid for Briand and £10 million bid for sinclair which i will accept for both! all of these players played less than 5 games for me last season. i have also released saviola, riquelme, pirlo and drogba as they were all on £80,000 a week and were barely getting 5 games a season as well! and i still have loads of world class players left as well! i will see how the season goes

Dom

I always have this:

2 GK

2 LB

2 RB

4 CB

2 LM

2 RM

2 DM/MC

2 AM

5 ST

I used to hold a first team squad of about 22 players, but realised that I wasn't giving the kids a chance and missed out on holding onto young players who later turned about to be real stars. First team squad is now about 16, with the B-team making up the shortfall.

when i cheat (use fm genie scout) my teams total no of players get out of control i have around 100 players in my 3 squads. then i reduce it to 60 or something.

i keep my first team squad around 30 the most...

actually i narrow it down until the scroll bar disappears

I have a small squad, with no youth team - all my developmental talent either play in the reserves or get shipped out on loan.

i generally just have the most i can in the 1st team before i have to scroll (yes i am rather lazy)

I want big 1st team squad and little Reserve squad, but my reserves easily have double my 1st team squad

I have 2GK, 2LB, 2RB, 4CB, 2LM, 2RM, 4CM, 5ST + youth. Any player who's not in my 16 ends up in the reserve squad + sub keeper plays every other reserve match to keep match fitness up.

I was under the impression size doesn't matter...

I was under the impression size doesn't matter...

tell that your girlfriend

Gk-2

rb-2

lb-2

cb-4

dm-2

amr-2

aml-2

amc-2

st-4

well by the looks of it most of you guys are saying smaller is better so i have started to trim down my squad i sold veloso for £15 million, Kalou for £10 million, Aaron for £15 million, plus i have had a £7 million bid for Briand and £10 million bid for sinclair which i will accept for both! all of these players played less than 5 games for me last season. i have also released saviola, riquelme, pirlo and drogba as they were all on £80,000 a week and were barely getting 5 games a season as well! and i still have loads of world class players left as well! i will see how the season goes

Dom

Lol, me too

Just reached the transfer window (January) and I have just sold Alex to Valencia for £5m up front then a further £10m over the next 2 years. I already have Terry, Richards, Carvalho, Mancienne (and 1 more I think) that can play centre half, so no need to keep Alex (as good as he has been) but he didn't play enough. With the money I make from these players I think I will try and buy some quality youth upto 18 years old and bring them in if need be. A couple more players might be shipped out this month too - although I already have some very good young players out on loan, these will stay loaned out in case of injuries. In fact that may be the future for me - buy young and loan out.

I just wish I was better tactically - I suck at FM

I have my first 11 and 1 player for each position as backup/ rotation depending how much I like em or good they are. The rest is just promising youngsters but I can have as many as these as I want, I only buy the best on my opinion/ scouts opinion

I was under the impression size doesn't matter...

tell that your girlfriend

You won't be surprised to learn I don't have one...

I try to keep it to a small squad but tend to end up between 27-30 and rotate certain positions. The main reason for this is I end up getting allot of players from abroad and then come unstuck in champions league registration so have to put my best young english lads into first team squad.

For my youth (U18/U19/U20/whatever) squad, again I go for the 22 of 2 in each position as a maximum, if I get a huge influx of regens one year and I'm 'full' in any particular position, I'll choose some players to release, not necessarily the worst players, but the ones I feel have the least potential in the long run, for example if I have a decent 17 year old, an average 17 year old, and a 15 year old that's just broke through, I'll ditch the average 17 and give the 15 y/o a year or two to prove himself

Lol, me too

Just reached the transfer window (January) and I have just sold Alex to Valencia for £5m up front then a further £10m over the next 2 years. I already have Terry, Richards, Carvalho, Mancienne (and 1 more I think) that can play centre half, so no need to keep Alex (as good as he has been) but he didn't play enough. With the money I make from these players I think I will try and buy some quality youth upto 18 years old and bring them in if need be. A couple more players might be shipped out this month too - although I already have some very good young players out on loan, these will stay loaned out in case of injuries. In fact that may be the future for me - buy young and loan out.

I just wish I was better tactically - I suck at FM

ben haim? (10)

I usually play 4-4-2 Diamond or 3-1-2-2-2

So I will have 2 players in each position and 3 for GK.

Apart from this I will from betweem 3-8 players who will be on verge of breaking into first-team, they play few matches but usually play for reserve.

pay special attention that if your players don`t play regularly i found they don`t play as well. a hirarchy is good to have.

personally i love having at least 2 players for each position, but i like having as many players as possible who can play several positions, especially since i change my tactics a lot between away and home. it also depends at how many competitions i am playing.

in my current game (playing man-city, second year) i have 3 GKs, 4 DCs (with 2 more players who can play DC well, they mostly ply R/LB and sometimes midfield though) 3-4 WB (not including the 2 versatile ones), 3 dedicated DMCs (not including the 2 who can play defenders - so if i need i have at least 5). those DMCs can also play MC if i need.

i only have one real MC, and it`s only because he`s a home grown player, and pretty good as well (michael johnson), usually i wouldn`t have dedicated MCs. i have quite a lot of AMCs (5-6 that i can think about, probably more), all of them can play MC as well, except for 2 of them all the others can play at the wings as well, and 2 of them can also play strikers. and i have dedicated strikers (2 big and 2 quick). again if i need i can use my AMCs as strikers.

this would be around 25 players.

i also have several excellent youngsters, but i only use them if i actually want to give them some minutes, i never put myself in a position i need them.

anyway, i try not having more than 25 regulars, at around the same level, and i want those players to play as many positions as possible. eventually no player in my seniors play less than 25-30 games a year, and no one plays at the 50-60 range either.