Football News: Does the Manchester United Squad Size Matter?

The question was asked the other day about why do these players keep throwing managers under the bus? Even after there has been squad turn over and a dozen players changed, it still happens.

I responded by saying that, for the most part, I don't think it's intentional. By that, I mean I doubt many players are intentionally putting in poor performances to try and get the manager sacked.

I think the issue is mostly because of a lack of leaders and too many players with a weak mentality. Which is why this team can win games and even cups when the goings good, but when the pressure cranks up and things get tough, they crack.

Maybe it's a symptom of modern society. I expect all these players to be on social media far more often than is healthy for them. If you are a Manchester United player, it takes a pretty strong mentality to read the things written repeatedly about you on social media and not take any of it to heart.

Personally, if I was advising a young player, I'd be suggesting to limit their time online and reading other people's opinions of them.

However, I was chatting with a friend last night and they came up with another possible reason for why this team struggles when things get tough. He thinks the squad size is a real problem. We currently have 36 players who are part of the first team squad (5 are now out on loan).

That's a really big group and bigger than most successful teams. Liverpool have 25 (with 4 on loan), Man City have 24 (with 3 others on loan), and Arsenal have 25 (with 5 on loan).

So the three teams fighting on all fronts and challenging for titles all have 24 or 25 players in their first team. We currently have 31 (it was 34 before 3 went on loan in January).

It's much harder to create a tight-knit squad with a larger group of players. This was actually something Jose said many times. He likes a squad of 18-20 outfield players and 3 keepers.

This is probably exasperated by the fact that only about a quarter of our squad is good enough, meaning three quarters don't get a look in even when things aren't going well, as they simply aren't good enough.

Having so many players who don't really feel part of the team but are hanging around makes it difficult to create that fighting us against the world mentality.

It might sound crazy in a season where we have been absolutely ravaged by injuries, but actually having as many players in the first team as we do is almost certainly hurting us more than it helps us.

Over the next two years, we probably need to move on 20-22 players from our first team squad, but only replace 12 of them with either new signings or promoting academy players.

We need a smaller, higher quality and unified squad all suited to play a particular style of play.

Just another reason why the outs are as important, if not more so than the ins this summer and next.

Written by Shappy March 13 2024 08:51:41