Mikel Arteta is trying to convince the Premier League to change the size of their matchday squads, bringing them in line with UEFA competitions.
There was plenty of good news for Arsenal after their 3-0 Community Shield win over Manchester City, but there have also been quite a few headlines about the players not involved in the match.
The absences of William Saliba and Jurrien Timber were easily explained by injury, and Timber was even present in Cardiff for the game. Then Illan Meslier was in attendance despite not being named on the bench, as is relatively customary for a third-choice goalkeeper in domestic competition.
But that’s only in domestic competition. In UEFA competitions, there are extra spaces on the bench, and the likes of Meslier can be named in the squad as well.
That happened regularly with Tommy Setford last season, travelling to domestic games for warm-ups only to be left out, whilst being included in Champions League squads all the way up to the semi-final.
On top of Meslier, Mikel Arteta also had to leave out Gabriel Martinelli, Ethan Nwaneri, Gabriel Jesus, Fabio Vieira, and Reiss Nelson against Manchester City. Again, in UEFA competitions, at least two of those players could have been included, as they allow a squad of 23 rather than 20.
Speaking to the media, Arteta confirmed that he’s pushing the Premier League to change the rules.
“I’ve been trying to persuade the Premier League and the clubs to be able to extend the number of players that we can have, especially the outfield players in the squads, because we play more and more games and the load is unreal,” Arteta said.
“It’s just a shame (to leave players out), so it’s the most difficult part of the job. It’s just a fact that we can bring 18 outfield players and we believe that for today’s game these were the options that we needed, especially with the physical condition of certain players.”
There will probably be some smaller clubs pushing back against the proposed increase, believing it will allow the big clubs more substitute options that they can’t afford to match. Some of them probably don’t have 23 fully-fit senior players to name in the squad anyway.
But with almost half the Premier League now taking part in Europe each season, the number of clubs that never expect to name a squad of 23 players is increasingly small.
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