Football is a Squad Game Now.

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Stuart Maynard has been talking quite a lot about the strength of the Notts County squad. He talks about it almost every time he gives an interview.

We've also talked on here about how football has changed, particularly from the middle 60s when I started taking an interest in Association Football, as it was called then.

Football was an eleven man game then, squads were never mentioned at all. Clubs had a reserve team which played in their own league. 

The best player would be picked from the reserve team to be the only substitute during a first team game. If a goalie got injured an outfield player would go in goal.

Reserves have now gone, it has been replaced by the Academy with a B team, of young players.

Now we have a squad of 22 players in league 2. Many managers/coaches pick a team to play a particular match from  the whole squad. A manager tries to have available 22 players of equal stature if possible.

That's the way the game seems to be going. Those teams with the strongest squad are usually the successful Clubs.

So the question is, Should all 22 players of a squad be available for a match, eleven on the field & eleven available on the bench instead of up to seven?

Or maybe you feel that seven players on the bench is too many & this number should be reduced, or seven is about right.

But for all said & done, it is a squad game now, or is it?

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

@Robbie Well  I guess you're right football is now a Squad Game. The question is why? Well it's my belief that the amount of games played by teams, the days when a Manager played his Best XI players with a couple of Subs on the bench for the most part of the whole season are now gone. 12-13 players wouldn't be able to play every game nowadays. Compared to today a Team would play their league matches, F.A. Cup matches (plus replays) and League Cup Matches (plus Replays) and that would seem about it, unless of course a Team was involved in European Competition, then again those matches were only played over two legs.

I would say the Biggest culprits of bringing about the Squad Game are, the likes of Sky Sports and the Crazy amounts of money they pay to televise live football have forced Clubs to invest in a 22-24 man Squad. Simply the more games that are played the more money  they get the more money the Football Authorities get along with the Top Clubs and Players. I believe it was at Sky's insistence that the Football League Playoffs were introduced. Something to this Day I think are both Wrong and Unfair. That along with the Top Four Teams of each  European Footballing Nation given the Chance to play in the Champions League, playing those amount of games a Squad of Players is now the only way for a Club to compete.

Of course the Game as also changed, players are Fitter and the game played in most cases at a Faster Pace and Injuries certainly seem to increase season on season, another reason for the introduction of the Squad Game. Plus back in the day how far would a team travel to play in a Preseason Friendly? They certainly wouldn't travel half way around the World. Whether us Old Un's like it or Not, the Squad Game is here to stay.

[liampie]

we have a lot of players who if training right and performing well could start, but we do need to make sure the team always has the quality in all areas. i think the squad is shaping nicely, that if we can maintain players, we wont have to get rid of many at all and replacing those places should be much easier. league two does rely on you to be able to balance the squads playing time, i think part of our fall last season was due to players not being rested properly. something stuart maynard is doing well with at the moment.

[allardyces tash]

Notts has always needed to rely on the squad. It’s just that it’s taken time to sign players who are good enough to rotate whilst still maintaining a solid team performance. I think the squad now has a lot of talent. The only player I am unsure about is Robbie Cundy, but the rest have fitted in well. Cundy could improve over time, but he’s the only player who doesn’t quite fit our squad right now.

[Countyman]

It’s been a squad game for years, but Notts have put more focus on having a competitive squad. The players can come in and out, catering for better tactics. There are key players, but at the same time, there are people who can be replaced and rotated. It’s good for Stuart Maynard to have these options.

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I would say since the formation of the Premier League, football has been more about having a squad of about 20–22 players who any of those could be considered first team players. With the rest of the squad made up of youngsters, reserves or players just making the step-up.

I think lower down, sometimes teams would sit around 16-18.

That's the way Notts has been for a while; we've had spells where the focus was "depth" but usually we did fall short of it, especially under the Trew era. Sometimes it would see us top-heavy with "experienced players" and "journeymen". I think it's not always a bad idea, but the season where Craig Short took over after we gained promotion to League One, the championship winning side was torn apart, and we went for a focus on "former Premier League players". Some who've had experience were beyond past it or were too injury prone.

We had spells where that approach was scrapped, with the focus on young players which was exciting, but it was always going to lead to issues. Even under Alan Hardy, we had a lacklustre approach, with the focus being more on attacking players at the expense of people who could actually defend. I think the best we have had true depth has always been under the Reedtz.

I thought we would struggle to sign players in our first season in the National League but the depth we had, it looked good enough and far better than I expected. Every season from that point, the quality has increased and depth has become better. This is despite losing players such as Kyle Wootton, Cal Roberts and decent prospects like Sam Osborne. This year, I did think we need a few more signings after the departures, but I think we have done well to avoid being "top-heavy" and instead of recruited players who offer something different but fit within our system.

George Abbott is a very good use of the loan system, I am hoping Jevani Brown proves to be too.

If we have a good enough budget, we should always try to make sure we have a good amount of quality. I don't mind filling some space with young, such as the likes of Ed Francis and Will Patching (although they may have been on a decent wage). My point is, there's space to have some room for those coming through. I would mention Regan Booty, but his injury history with us wasn't good - yet I thought he was a promising player.