Rotating and resting players in secondary cups is not a new phenomenon – but Chelsea took it to a new level in the Conference League this season.
They averaged 8.5 changes per European game, based on their previous Premier League line-up.
In the league stage there was a recognised Premier League team and a Conference League XI – with very little overlap. They were much changed in the domestic cups too, although fell at the second hurdle in both.
England forward Palmer, their star player, was not even registered in Europe until the knockout games.
As the Blues started playing in knockout games they started using more first-team players, like Palmer, Caicedo and Marc Cucurella.
But even through that they never made fewer than five changes from their last league game, including the final.
As the season ends, well, until next month’s Fifa Club World Cup, 18 Chelsea players featured in more Conference League than Premier League games this season.
That includes five players who left the club in January.
Midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who played all 15 European games, featured 13 times in the league.
Marc Guiu, whose six goals were two shy of the Conference League Golden Boot, has yet to start a league game.
However, the final saw a stronger XI, with only four outfield changes from the side that beat Nottingham Forest last Sunday to clinch a Champions League spot.
“Chelsea have got so much more money than anyone else competing in this competition,” said ex-Blues winger Pat Nevin on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“But they have respected the competition by saying, ‘we’re not going to put out the softest of teams but we’ll put out enough to make sure we’ll get through’.
“I have to say, looking back on it all now, Enzo Maresca has done a great job.”
