If the team can build good momentum in both competitions like City did last season, they can better themselves overall and make it difficult for teams to play against them.
Out of the 5 premier league titles City has won, I think they got to the semi final of the UCL in 3 or 4 of those occasions.
- Jay -
You picked maybe the only team in the world that makes your thesis float
City and Guardiola are known for their rotation policy and having the longest bench in the world. I agree with you that City can use those games to build momentum but City is in a league of its own.
Yeah, have to back Trofo here. Europe brings experience and competitiveness -- that's good for player development. But it's more the revenue from those that help a club grow in depth, to increase statistical likelihood to win, rather than on a few overperforming players.
Fatigue is real. Liverpool took their 2022 season all the way trying to win the quadruple and just lost out on Europe after extreme fatigue the next season. It wasn't the first time that happened to them, either.
Everton, a loose example of what non-Europe involvement can do for league stability -- never qualifying for Europe but finishing 6-8th place every season from 2010-2015... then they got 5th, and qualified for Europe.
The moment a thin squad had to compete in many more games, they dropped to 11th 2 seasons running, lost out of Europe, got in again, bit those two appearances just wiped off stability, they've been sliding down since -- because they didn't expand the way a club should. I think of Leeds the same way a decade before that.