Fitness advantages tend to wear off by the middle of the season when all teams (barring injuries etc.) are basically completely match fit, and no clubs work on fitness during the season.
So being super fit does two things. 1. it allows clubs to have more effective preseasons by getting in more training, more match sim, more practice in general. 2. it can allow teams to snag a few extra wins in the first half of the year, simply by being fitter than their opponents.
I think number 2 was definitely a factor for us last year. There were a number of times we won matches from behind in the first half of the year, even though there really never was a discernible structure and I can't remember a single game where we looked strategically superior. Once the fitness advantage wore off, our non-structure was brutally exposed and we barely won another game.
So being super fit does two things. 1. it allows clubs to have more effective preseasons by getting in more training, more match sim, more practice in general. 2. it can allow teams to snag a few extra wins in the first half of the year, simply by being fitter than their opponents.
I think number 2 was definitely a factor for us last year. There were a number of times we won matches from behind in the first half of the year, even though there really never was a discernible structure and I can't remember a single game where we looked strategically superior. Once the fitness advantage wore off, our non-structure was brutally exposed and we barely won another game.
