Extra games means extra knocks, bumps, bruises and bookings. Having a great starting eleven is fabulous but when the aforementioned impacts said starting eleven that is where the side looks fraught.
It's impossible to have a set of utility players ready to step in at any time or all at once because any player good enough to play the entire back line or similarly a player that can fit in anywhere across the midfield will be a specialist in at least one position and so arguements about 'square pegs in round holes' kick up (on top of which with player power - such talents can push for regular first team football at a host of teams).
I wasn't overly concerned about dumping out of the Carling Cup. Especially as we were playing Lukaku through injury and 3 or 4 of the prime starting eleven were out injured, on top of which with the EL to be handled (much more important in terms of coefficient btw) we had to 'cut our cloth accordingly'. So the saying goes.
Take McCarthy atm, has his injury been exacerbated because of a lot of club games being rolled into international commitments? Everton fans that dont give a toss about the rep of Ireland games, but they might say he was pushed too hard for club and so was bound to get crocked eventually.
Balancing a squad of internationals is no mean feat, not every manager is Ferguson and can ring Giggs through as injured days before every international game/friendly.
Martinez has promoted a lot of the youth players so far this season, rarely have we seen so many make debuts in such a short space of time. Getting them involved as easrly as possible keeps them hungry to step up again but also provides a taste of the experience that they can build on, the blood and guts of a senior game is miles different to the reserves and under 21's.
All in all, we'll need to boost the squad because players approaching retirement will need understudy's available for transition - that leads to a new set becoming the oldest heads in the squad and the responsibilities that comes with. Money is a factor, as is the ground (which is another branch of saying 'money' really) but so long as the academy can cast its net as far as possible and try to promote players like it has then the pressure on the club as a financial concern will be alleviated.
In summary, staying injury free is praying on a miracle, expanding the squad is reasonable but the quality might not be to everyones liking/expectation. A bit of luck, some good judgement and the occasional rising star through the youth setup is about the best we can realistically hope for. We might have to get used to the old days of not picking up super players on the extreme cheap that improve us drastically or end up sold for huge profit.
