Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad
Football is a 'squad game', it has been for years with the Champions League as it is, and the increased pace and demands of a 90 minute match. What's changed is our squad, it's becoming stronger than ever. We have players in every position that can genuinely challenge for a starting place. If Fletcher is starting regularly for United, there's a big problem. Perhaps the current situation is ideal. He gets 11 starts a season, that way better players represent United on the pitch for longer, and those who think the sun shines out of his arse can go on about how excellent and under-rated he is.
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You do need players competing for a starting place, or at least breathing down the necks of the starting players. But every player in the squad can't be at that level, else the ones who aren't starting very often will get upset and leave, quite likely hurting team morale in the meantime. We have a squad of what, about 25 players? It's impossible that all 25 would be truly challenging for starting positions, unless every season you want to sell the 5-8 players who have got jack of barely playing, and trying to replace them with other players of the same quality (good luck finding ones who know they probably won't play much).
You need some squad players as well, players who are happy being on the bench (or not even that) a fair bit, and who are capable of coming in when needed and performing quite well. And that is simply a description of Fletcher. O'Shea too I guess, although the level of his performances can be questioned a bit more.