25 man-squad, yet you have to play your strongest side?

This completley contradicts the rule. Why bother picking a 25 man squad when you have to play your strongest side? They need to sort this out, a club should be able to pick any team out of his 25 players + players U21s.

I think you answered the question with 'they need to sort this out'

Good point.

How about other peoples opinions on this?

ridiculous

you can't really regulate the 'play your strongest side' rule because it's such a grey area..

I own this thread

Doesn't matter anyway. THey only fine like £25,000 which its worth it if you play it right.

This

crump wrote:They need to sort this out

plus this

El_indian wrote:you can't really regulate the 'play your strongest side' rule because it's such a grey area..

...
If they're going to make such a rule, they can't punish people for following them.

Couldn't agree more. In principle what the FA is saying is that there are 11 players on each team that should play every match, and if they don't they will be fined. A team should be allowed to play whoever the hell they want as long as nothing is agreed with another club. If say Chelsea won the league and wanted to rest players for an important fixture next week they shouldn't be punished for having wrapped it up early. If they are going to punish teams for playing a weaker side they might as well punish teams that play to draw (which quite a few do). It's an outragous practice that has no place in the modern game.

It's beyond ridiculous to be punished for this.

It's like the FA are saying the other players are shit

Why is it Wolves and Blackpool got fined yet Liverpool did it before when getting ready for the Champion's League finals in 2005 and 2007 and if Manchester United do it tommorrow they will not get fined.

its a load of shit, they are made to pick a 25 man squad they should be able to pick any of those players in the starting line up,

Forest wrote:It's like the FA are saying the other players are shit

This in a way

Imagine how shit it must feel, your club gets fined because the manager played you in a match

You are all ignorant, do any of you even understand why the rule exists, in principle?

If you're the manager, you should be able to pick whoever the fuck you like.

No you shouldn't, I can't believe how ignorant people are being about this.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:You are all ignorant, do any of you even understand why the rule exists, in principle?

So it is fair for every team.


Its not fair that Birmingham played Man U when they are playing for the title therefore play the strongest squad and now Man U in theory could play their shit team against Blackpool who are fighting relegation.

The rule is kinda stupid though. I mean one of the reasons they brought the 25 man squad thing in was to try and help youngsters get more game time and have better chances of breaking into the first team. Yet when they do have this chance the club is told not to do it.

Well done James. Manchester United fielded very strong sides against the likes of Brimingham, Blackburn, Wolverhampton and Wigan and defeated all of them, it's wholly unfair for Blackpool to rock up at Old Trafford and be facing Gibson, Obertan, Kuszczak, Liverpool's greatest ever player, Gill etc.

James ♠ wrote:The rule is kinda stupid though. I mean one of the reasons they brought the 25 man squad thing in was to try and help youngsters get more game time and have better chances of breaking into the first team. Yet when they do have this chance the club is told not to do it.

That's not why the rule was brought in, it was to reduce pressure on wages. It's totally irrelevant to the rule about playing your strongest team.

Who are the PL to say what the team's strongest side is? I guess it's to stop teams throwing away matches, but what if they have a difficult game the next week where they players need to be rested.

There are far more flaws in this rule than benefits.

SBSP wrote:Who are the PL to say what the team's strongest side is? I guess it's to stop teams throwing away matches, but what if they have a difficult game the next week where they players need to be rested.

There are far more flaws in this rule than benefits.

I thought the rule had something to do with the number of roster changes in the starting 11 from one game to the next. Guess I could be wrong though.

I don't mind the rule, a team should respect every opponent. Nobody is saying they should start every star in every game, but to have a certain team playing to clinch a title and then to switch 8 guys out the next game when there are teams battling relegation hurts the integrity of the leagues

Vexxed wrote:

SBSP wrote:Who are the PL to say what the team's strongest side is? I guess it's to stop teams throwing away matches, but what if they have a difficult game the next week where they players need to be rested.

There are far more flaws in this rule than benefits.

I thought the rule had something to do with the number of roster changes in the starting 11 from one game to the next. Guess I could be wrong though.

I don't mind the rule, a team should respect every opponent. Nobody is saying they should start every star in every game, but to have a certain team playing to clinch a title and then to switch 8 guys out the next game when there are teams battling relegation hurts the integrity of the leagues

Yeah, who's to say the ten players brought it are all worse than the original lineup?

It completely undermines the manager. They should be allowed to pick whatever team they see fit to do the job, whether that job is to keep other players fit for another game which may be more of a priority, or whether he sees it as a nothing game. The rule says to me that the FA want the league to be entertaining so all the best players play in every game, instead of it being proper, tactical football.

luke. wrote:It completely undermines the manager. They should be allowed to pick whatever team they see fit to do the job, whether that job is to keep other players fit for another game which may be more of a priority, or whether he sees it as a nothing game. The rule says to me that the FA want the league to be entertaining so all the best players play in every game, instead of it being proper, tactical football.

Alright, suppose Arsenal are in a Europa League tie, and their fixture list looks like this

Chelsea (H)
Real Madrid (A)
Man Utd (H)
Real Madrid (H)

They're still in with a shout in the title race. The first game they play their maximum strength team and take a point, which puts them pretty much out of it, and leaves Chelsea a point behind. For Arsenal game against United, they play a team of Under 20s, get tanked 5-0 and United go clear at the top of the League.

Is that fair?

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

luke. wrote:It completely undermines the manager. They should be allowed to pick whatever team they see fit to do the job, whether that job is to keep other players fit for another game which may be more of a priority, or whether he sees it as a nothing game. The rule says to me that the FA want the league to be entertaining so all the best players play in every game, instead of it being proper, tactical football.

Alright, suppose Arsenal are in a Europa League tie, and their fixture list looks like this

Chelsea (H)
Real Madrid (A)
Man Utd (H)
Real Madrid (H)

They're still in with a shout in the title race. The first game they play their maximum strength team and take a point, which puts them pretty much out of it, and leaves Chelsea a point behind. For Arsenal game against United, they play a team of Under 20s, get tanked 5-0 and United go clear at the top of the League.

Is that fair?

If it's that obvious, then that's where the rule comes in.

If he's still using first teamers, I don't see why they should be punished.

OK, suppose he plays a complete 2nd XI, resting all of his team that he is intending to play in the 2nd leg against Real Madrid, is that fair?

ResurrectionRooney wrote:OK, suppose he plays a complete 2nd XI, resting all of his team that he is intending to play in the 2nd leg against Real Madrid, is that fair?

If it's clearly a second string team, then maybe.

The instances where Wolves and Blackpool were charged, I don't think they were obviously second-string teams.

Er...they made 11 and 10 changes respectively.