Soccer Star

Curious to see what managers feel is their preferred squad balance.

Not necessarily what you have now, but with all things being equal what would the balance of your squad look like assuming you could find the players at the level you wanted and you had the money to get them.

I have gone back and forth on this for years, from the minimalist 5-5-5 to far larger (mainly due to my teams' ability to get injured so often) and am still not entirely convinced what would be my optimum squad balance (certainly not at Charscot, where to this day my mood can mean anything from grab all the players I can to getting rid of perceived surplus).

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Cheers
Rich

CHARSCOT WANDERERS......WPL1
DEP EL CELTICO.....................WPL37
WASCISCO RED SOX...............WPL43
ZIASTE NEQUENO...................WPL24
REVELSTONE...........................RH15
CASTLE ROCK FURIES.............ELZ56.....291T

(Click badges to see my other teams)

I tend to go 6-6-5 at the start of the season, perhaps one less overall if I have players who can play in multiple positions.

Once forms are up I don't mind a bigger squad...

Cheers
Dave

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AFC Binfield WPL28
Astral FC RH44
Seabourne City WPL27
Poole Town Panthers NSA23
St Agnes Aces NSA13
Selly All Stars MOA53
Boscombe Athletic OPAL8

I always want to go 6-6-5 or 6-5-5 but can rarely stop myself from going way above or below depending on the team

The one thing I do tend to do is try to keep the number of attackers no higher than 5 (working on the theory that any more than 5 who can actually score would be a waste as some would never get a game - the reality sadly is that normally I am struggling to find any that score ).

I do find Charscot's squad the hardest to reduce, but that is as much about being wary of letting all brils leave via the market (almost impossible to get Swap deals for them these days) as anything else. In fact, the current squad (6-7-5 with two youths being trained by Razor coming in next season) was the reason I posted this as was and am considering AM'ing one or two but curious to see how others feel they get by with differing numbers (never too long in the game to learn something new about SS from someone else's perspective)

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Cheers
Rich

CHARSCOT WANDERERS......WPL1
DEP EL CELTICO.....................WPL37
WASCISCO RED SOX...............WPL43
ZIASTE NEQUENO...................WPL24
REVELSTONE...........................RH15
CASTLE ROCK FURIES.............ELZ56.....291T

(Click badges to see my other teams)

Keepers is a good point. Should have really set up a separate post for how many of them as the poll has kind of assumed two but have had sides survive on one and others need 3.

Totally agree re injuries, seem to have definitely spiked up both in terms of frequency and number of long term injuries

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Cheers
Rich

CHARSCOT WANDERERS......WPL1
DEP EL CELTICO.....................WPL37
WASCISCO RED SOX...............WPL43
ZIASTE NEQUENO...................WPL24
REVELSTONE...........................RH15
CASTLE ROCK FURIES.............ELZ56.....291T

(Click badges to see my other teams)

Always 2 G/K's, sometimes 3, & then try & get 6,5,5 maybe another Mid, but as Rich days no more than 5 Arts

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Razor HAD the edge!!

Kilburn United (WS57)
Inter Derby (WS10)
Spondon Phoenix F.C (WPL3)
Chaddesden Celtic (Opal41)
Torpedo Belper (NSA17)
Belper Nailers (Opal15)

http://razorsssteams.bravesites.com/

I tend to go for 3 keepers and 6 players in each of the other positions. I had 4 injuries last week across my teams including 2 at the same team.

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York Rovers OPAL2 / Fishburn Park Opal21 / Whitby Town OPAL43 / Stainsacre United OPAL44
Tadcaster Albion OPAL49 / Askham Bryan United OPAL53 / Par Athletic OPAL59
Guisborough Town WPL22
Whitby Arcadians ELZ61
Sleights FC RH12
FC Tayside NSA11 / AFC Liverpool NSA64
Stainsacre FC WS5 / Askham Bryan Athletic WS24 / Robin Hoods Bay WS51
AFC Scarborough MOA22 / Harrogate Railway MOA31

I tend to go for 2 - 5 - 5 - 4 (sometimes 5). Bare minimum and a tad risky with injuries but I like to keep the wage bill down.

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Steven
Ropery Rovers (NSA55) Polaris Cup Winners 2017, 2020, 2021,2023
Ropery Alexandra (WS43) Div 3 Champions 20

My Third keeper tends to be somebody from the Youth system.

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York Rovers OPAL2 / Fishburn Park Opal21 / Whitby Town OPAL43 / Stainsacre United OPAL44
Tadcaster Albion OPAL49 / Askham Bryan United OPAL53 / Par Athletic OPAL59
Guisborough Town WPL22
Whitby Arcadians ELZ61
Sleights FC RH12
FC Tayside NSA11 / AFC Liverpool NSA64
Stainsacre FC WS5 / Askham Bryan Athletic WS24 / Robin Hoods Bay WS51
AFC Scarborough MOA22 / Harrogate Railway MOA31

I tend to go for 2 - 5 - 5 - 4 and worry about the injuries when they happen (which at Cair seems to happen regularly )
Reason being is that the training staff have less to work with and get around the players fairly regular.

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Cusco (Opal51)
Rotorua (ELZ55)
Forfar United (MOA57)

Usually go 2-5-6-5 like to try to keep squads fairly small.

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Cheers
Dave.
Barton Blitz......WPL 53 Mancs F.C......WPL 64 Wigan Wildcats....Opal 58
Swinton Pirates ....ELZ 24 Dinamo Petrovac....ELZ 54
Manchester Dragons...RH 17 Stonefield Cobras ...RH 26
Luosto Tunturi...WS 7 Locomotiv Leigh. ...NSA 18 Limone Sul Garda .....BS26
Trafford Rhino's ...MOA 10 Tyldesley Panthers ...MOA 38

Thanks all for your votes and for your measure, informed thoughts in the comments. Both interesting and much appreciated.

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Cheers
Rich

CHARSCOT WANDERERS......WPL1
DEP EL CELTICO.....................WPL37
WASCISCO RED SOX...............WPL43
ZIASTE NEQUENO...................WPL24
REVELSTONE...........................RH15
CASTLE ROCK FURIES.............ELZ56.....291T

(Click badges to see my other teams)

As I've voted, I should share my views. I don't have any particular rules or aims and it is so different across my teams. In a couple of my longer term teams I have players who can move between positions, but I have a habit of doing that, even if they aren't perfect for the position, just to alter the formation. I perhaps have a tendency to start with a bare minimum at the beginning of the season, stockpile during and then shed at the end. In some teams, their favoured formations are 532, 442 (so I have fewer strikers) or I might play 433, 334, 343 (with more attackers or mids) so there really is no pattern across them. If I have a lot of young players (like in the RH) the squad is larger as the players improving values are helping the team to be stronger financially - I will soon sell off a number of them and be more selective.

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Allestree Allstars nsa35
Dark Alliance nsa10
Duffield Dynamos opal39
Yorkshire Patriots rh7
Melwood moa4

More mids the better as they can cover other positions

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Spartan Wolf WPL16
Wolfskull Nords OPAL32
Wanderers FC OPAL42
Old Gold Jun'rs RH49
Wolf Warriors MOA24
Vampire FC MOA44

This is Rich. I wasn't aware but apparently each thread can only show one poll so when merging the poll topics the later poll was removed from the thread. Thankfully I had taken a screenshot in advance so it is linked below -



http://www.charscot.co.uk/images/Poll2.png

Now to the comments from others starting with Jelly's original post---



On one hand, I'm interested in what you think is a suitable bank balance - a level you aim for, or try to keep it at (comments below). Maybe you like to have something available for that big bid or you like to spend on your stadium... or maybe money is just an annoyance that doesn't interest you.

However, the poll question is about how much money you actually have! It's anonymous, so just for interest. With some teams being around a considerable time, I can imagine there are some very large balances. Equally, I know some of you don't really care and actually the money doesn't do anything in the bank, so why save? Whatever your views or abilities to save/spend, I'd appreciate your poll answer.

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Allestree Allstars nsa35
Dark Alliance nsa10
Duffield Dynamos opal39
Yorkshire Patriots rh7
Melwood moa4

Across my teams I have between £10m and £75m - but I prefer to spend it rather than keep it in the bank

Cheers, Dave

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AFC Binfield WPL28
Astral FC RH44
Seabourne City WPL27
Poole Town Panthers NSA23
St Agnes Aces NSA13
Selly All Stars MOA53
Boscombe Athletic OPAL8