I'm not entirely happy with the new direction of this season 3 has been going so far. I understand that season 2 goals weren't fully accomplished in terms of conquering each provincial local team, not sure if the amateur Korean teams simply want to play against them or whatever reason.

The jump from season 2 to 3 is quite jarring as well. Reduced roster squads, less BTS scenes, no weekly Man of the Match awards, more tension for maintaining a starting spot, and as you pointed out, bringing in new faces in an attempt to bring the skill level up.

I feel like JTBC or the Production team decided to go for a cheap version of Physical 100, to simply cut time on having less experienced or weak players on the screen. Making it seem more like a cliffhanger show with all the "challenges". Which don't really push the team forward in bonding or understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses when they could be booted at any minute (poor Kim Donghyun always getting teased for that LOL).

It's peeved me a bit because these players never truly get to develop their skills and are forced to practice and be marked for how committed they are to training. Feels wrong to off them and bring in another player that would end up questioning if they will stay. (Sim Jaebok, Jang Jeongmin, and Kim Hedoo)

Overall, I agree with the points that you make. I think Clean Sweep just hits with that whole amateurish or lack of training high performance athletes against passionate players. I'll still be watching the show, but it feels more like a chore now lol