I buy and sell a new team every season (apart from maybe 3 players) and also keep 10 or 11 Academy players, so I'll tend to have a 1 or 2 * team at the start of every season.
The Cup and CL are now level based so I always come up against 5* teams, the plus side being that the league draw is done on the first day of the season rather than the third, so I can buy my new team now in time for the Cup draw and at least have a chance of staying in past the first round.