I would say it's because of this new Cup format. Seen many many teams with a stong 11 even 13 players. The rest just absolute rubbish sitting on the bench. Which brings the team average right down,so they get an easier cup run against teams with the same average. Have a cup game tonight,his first team are ALL a star or 2 better than my first 11. His bench has only 1/2/3 Star players. Clever move by Nordous,people having bidding wars on ALL players