That’s what the Champions League needed: Aston Villa beating actual, real life Bayern Munich. Wow. The mails are in.

Send your own thoughts before it becomes all Erik ten Hag and Man Utd again to [email protected]

Up the f***ing Villa
Boohoo, the new format. Boohoo, the ticket prices.

Stick that in your f***ing pipe. Up the f***ing Villa and ¡Vamos Colombia!
Neil Raines

…AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Oh my. %^%$&£ $%^%$^&% ruddy me!!!
Gary AVFC, Oxford (Jhon Duran is already a VP cult hero)

…I remember the first time I got printed in the mailbox, Villa were then managed by Paul Lambert, we had a few good youth teamers coming through (Albrighton, Weimann, Bannan) and he seemed to be the right manager. Those players varied from Prem winner to Championship stalwarts, but the point is, Lambert wasn’t particularly good and we were quite crap by prem standards.

Over the intervening years, I’ve written in, sometimes published, sometimes not, about how Villa circled the drain, sunk, stank, had the cabbage throw-in incident, then hired a fan as manager who teamed up with a boyhood fan player and got us promoted. I continued to write occasionally as Gerrard followed them, was utterly shite and had us teetering on sinking again.

I write tonight, because we have just beaten Bayern Munich. Actual, real life, Bayern. In the Champions League.

WTAF.

I love this team. I love football.
Nik. UTV. (To the other Villa fans, with a highlighted shout to those that write in, regular or not, I hope you f**king enjoyed that)

…We did well when Chelsea and West Ham wouldn’t pony up for Duran.

My word, what a sub.
Paul

READ: Jhon Duran and Unai Emery stun Bayern to put Aston Villa on euphoric path to Champions League norm

Get in the Big Six botherers
For some fellow top 6 bother-ers and Champions League enjoyers: congratulations. Hope you enjoyed that even half as much as we enjoyed PSG.
Roger, Newcastle in London

Is the new format absolutely brilliant?
Hear me out… I’m fully on board with all the talk of this format being absolute tripe. It is.

But maybe, just maybe, this lack of jeopardy between the bigger teams is.. actually a good thing?

Just finished watching the Villa game (what a win!). Felt like Kompany decided to just throw the kitchen sink at it in the end, like he knew that losing by another goal was worth the gamble of fully going for the draw. PSG threw caution to the wind for 10/15mins last night too. Would both sides have been just as gung-ho in the old-fashioned group games? In the old format, there was more at stake than just saving face. (all 4 teams will almost certainly go through here)

Have we accidentally unlocked the All-Star games? The big boys going gung-ho cos it doesn’t really matter? Could it be loads of fun to watch these players under slightly less pressure, therefore unearthing UEFA’s (totally unintentional) masterstroke? I’d be in.
Nick, Irish Gooner in Berlin

Nothing wrong with being a super-sub
There was a line of thought that popped up when the shift to five subs came in that we would finally get to a stage where being named in the starting line-up week-in week-out would stop being an indication of a player’s standing.

With Jhon Duran’s performances off the bench this season, have we finally reached a point where that might have become a reality? The commentators have spent the whole time he’s been on the pitch in this Bayern game saying he should be starting, that Emery should be finding a way to play him and Watkins together, but I can’t help feeling that they’re missing the point entirely.

Watkins and Duran are possibly the most formidable tag team in football right now, and I can’t see Duran or Emery wanting to change anything about that any time soon.
J, Spurs fan in Yorkshire
PS. What an extraordinary goalkeeper Martinez is. Say what you like about his shithousery, the man can save anything.

Martinez > all the rest
Oli, as a neutral I was sceptical that the ManU/ Villa goalkeeper assessment was a draw. A World Cup winning goalkeeper, you’re a Villa fan and I think you were being kind. After last night it isn’t even close, how anyone doesn’t see Martinez as the greatest keeper in the world right now staggers me.
Rob, Betsham

Arsenal smashing it
I wasn’t going to write in because I expected plenty to do so but we just cruised to a 2-0 victory over PSG in the Champions League and nobody did so I thought I would.

No this isn’t the PSG of a few years ago but it felt so good to watch us control a big Champions League fixture. I never doubted we would win from the first minute, we were so comfortable (probably too comfortable sometimes but still). What a change Arteta, Edu and Co have managed in a couple of years, big big kudos.
Rob A (watch us make a meal of beating Southampton at the weekend, this is the Arsenal way now) AFC

Stay humble
So, Mark MCFC, Celtic (Champions of their league) insisting on their right to partake in the CHAMPIONS league is to be sneered at? I’d argue that, as Champions of their league, they have as much (if not more) right to be in that competition than the majority of teams that are taking part. You know, the ones taking part that are champions of absolutely nothing? Whether you think they are any good or not is besides the point. It’s this line of thinking that leads to ideas like the European Super League – why should we play this dross every week? Only those deemed worthy should take part.

It wasn’t that long ago that City were languishing in the lower leagues of the English football pyramid, so you would think that would give you some perspective. You remember, don’t you? The time before you got that massive injection of blood money that was made on the backs of dead migrants? The time before you used that money, breaking all the financial rules, to supercharge your squad? You must remember, it wasn’t that long ago.

Maybe take the advice from one of your own players – one that was purchased with all that lovely cash – “stay humble”.
Pete (and Pep wonders why people want City ‘wiped off the face of the earth’) Somewhere

On Man City dominance
Whilst I appreciate the optimism in assuming that Manchester City won’t continue to dominate English football, I’m not convinced it’s based on much other than hope. I mean, it will probably end *eventually*, but I don’t see that being very soon. Seems like there’s 4 potential futures.

Future 1:

Pep actually fancies breaking all Premier League records, including Fergie’s league title total and stays to retirement age. Manchester City continue to dominate.

Future 2:

Pep decides to sack it all off, packs his well fitted designer jumpers and heads off to New York to try his poetry at open mic nights and never manages again. At this point (and I’m really sorry to raise this Arsenal fans), if I am an all-conquering behemoth of a club hell bent on world domination, I’ll probably just throw a load of money at the second best manager in the league and carry on (almost) as if nothing happened. Especially if that manager has a connection to the club already. Manchester City continue to dominate.

Future 3:

Pep/poetry scenario, but for some reason Arsenal Micky doesn’t fancy the City job. AND City get the next appointment wrong. Like, Tim Sherwood wrong. Then maybe, only maybe, we end up in a world where Arsenal, Liverpool & Chelsea win more titles than in the last 10 years. However, this depends on City getting something wrong – and if you’ve been paying attention, they don’t do that very often.

Future 4:

Man City get properly done over by the 115 charges. Not ‘wings clipped’ but ‘slaughtered, plucked and oven readied’ done over. I don’t think this is particularly likely, based on my total and wilful ignorance on the whole thing. I expect the punishment will be just enough for City fans to complain about it being unjust, and all other fans to complain about it being too lenient.

There are possible scenarios where, for example, a self-sufficient club like Manchester United sorts itself out and improves to maintain a level better than Man City’s but I wanted to keep this fairly realistic.
Jeremy Aves

Why I can’t gloat about Man Utd
Having suffered as a Liverpool fan through the entirety of Ferguson’s time at United, I should ideally be gloating over and enjoying every bit of the current state of Man U. However, I am just blinded by the light reflecting off Pep’s victorious bald pate. In short, United are where we were in the ‘90s and noughties and when we had bucket loads of salt poured into our wounds. But, unfortunately, we are not where they were in that period and it’s a huge opportunity lost. We need to find our Slot soon.
Balaji, Amsterdam

Man Utd infamy, infamy…
Man Utd aren’t a big club. They’re titanic. Even Old Trafford looks like a relic pulled from the bottom of the ocean these days.
John (South Africa)

Man Utd are all fur coat and no knickers
With the talk of big 6, big 4, big appendages and Man Utd’s place in all this I think one point is being missed. United are like one of those old estate families, has a hereditary title of past glory, wears the old fur coats to parties, talks about shopping in Harrods but really are shopping in Aldi or Lidl.

Who have Utd bought in the last 10 years that any of the other top 6 – 8 clubs would have gone for? De Ligt had failed with 2 major European clubs, Ugarte couldn’t get a game in Ligue 1, Casemiro was cooked or else Real would have kept him, Hojlund screams West Ham!! Mason Mount? Let’s not even mention Antony. Unitedinfocus.com has a list and it is truly scary the own brand dross they have signed in that period.

ETH may be a part of the problem, but if all that is signed are past it, never were and a few mid table standard players well then mid table is probably where you should be.
Mel – Dublin, Berlin, Athlone Town

MORE ON THE MAN UTD MESS FROM F365:
👉 Man Utd bungle Ten Hag sack and four other Premier League summer mistakes
👉 Chelsea 4th), Fenerbahce 3rd): Man Utd’s next ten games ranked on likelihood of forcing Ten Hag sack
👉 Ten Premier League managers who outstayed their welcome includes Ten Hag and Wenger

Defending Ten Hag
First of all, what a shame that other club fans are writing in to talk about Man Utd instead of their own clubs which played over the weekend #WeLivingRentFree

Now on to ETH, we the fans and the club collectively made a decision to give Erik one year to prove himself under a stable new ownership (Ignore the contract extension, that was just for the payoff). It’s only been six weeks, let’s not get cold feet so soon.

And so far this season, we see the team moving towards high pressing tactics lead by the front four and supported by midfield two. So there is a tactical blueprint coming through. Although this strategy can leave gaps if a defender breaks the lines as explained by Jon Mackinzie for the Athletic. And both Micky VdV and Bart van Rooij took full advantage.

Now it’s up to ETH to fix it before the next team figures it out too. Fitness levels are also not fully there so we see sluggish play in the second half and that can only improve with time. My fellow supporters, best to drown out the noise esp. if made by fans of teams who haven’t seen the royal box of Wembley in years (well actually Arsenal did win the community shield in 2023 so they get a pass 😛 ). ETH remains the only manager to have straight up beaten Man City in 2024. Even the mighty Real Madrid could only hang on for a draw and nick it on pens.

All that said, if current trends continue till Christmas then there is legitimate reason to consider changing the manager.

Lastly, kudos to Mediawatch all this week as they are patiently exposing the collective clickbaiting media frenzy around Man Utd and ETH.
Gaurav MUFC Amsterdam

Barclays: The original sportswashers
Sorry to be a misery guts, but I needed to respond to the email from Oliver Dziggel in this morning’s mailbox.

Nothing against Oliver, I really like your regular contributions, but just to call out your choice of bank.

Barclays are the original sportswashers, because of their sponsorship of our league that largely seems to be overlooked. They profit from current wars and have a less than noble history with their apartheid support.

The reason they can offer free tickets is they profit off misery.

Apologies to bring the tone down, I’m actually enjoying this season with potentially a five-team title race, Man U doing terribly and a new dawn for England under Carsley.
Jon, London

On VAR and science
Rob, I really enjoyed your analysis about the error margins of VAR. Sound logic and proper calculations!

As an analytical scientist myself, working for many years with imaging systems, it was great to read.

However, your argument would only hold if there was only one camera. In case of multiple cameras (which there are), all recording from multiple angles (which they do), even if they frames are exactly overlapping, super-resolution (in the spatial domain) will improve resolution massively, as they look at the same spot from different angles. Intrapolation between frames based on trajectories will also improve resolution massively (put simply: if the ball is in position A on frame 1 and position B on frame 2, it can only have moved on a Newtonian trajectory from A to B, and not in as a quantum particle, appearing anywhere on the pitch between frame 1 and frame 2. Same goes for body parts of footballers). Computationally and mathematically, this is the same process as the police uses to read out registration plates of fast moving cars on low res cameras.

Now, if you consider that different cameras tick from slightly different times, even with the same frame rate, you can have improved temporal resolution. (Camera 1 starting to record at 0.00 s, camera 2 at 0.01 s, even if both tick at 1/60s, they won’t have the exact same times. Camera 1 will record 0.00, 0.017, 0.034, … while camera 2 will tick in between: 0.01, 0.027, 0.044, …).

So essentially, your accuracy is MUCH better than 16 cm (or 30 cm), due to oversampling in both spatial and time domains (multiple cameras) and intrapolations based on well defined trajectories between set points.

Still, VAR is shit and should be ditched, but not for the lack of its accuracy, rather for stupidity of its implementation.
András, Sweden

A stopwatch? Not so simples
Phil (I may have stolen that last line) Liasides believes a stop-watch would prevent the time wasting but I actually believe this would be seen in the same light as the Golden Goal; makes sense on paper but in reality would have the opposite affect.

There are plenty of rules in place that allow refs to dish out card for time wasting but we don’t see them being not utilised (against non-Arsenal teams at least). And somewhat understandably. Imagine the uproar if Villa are reduced to 10 men because Martinez twice hits the deck for half a minute a good 5 seconds after catching the ball? United would be without Bruno after the tenth minute every game for feigning injuries. The rules simply aren’t being fully implemented or are for the first few games of the season and then forgotten about.

In a stop-watch scenario, when these things happen, the refs will just hold their hands up and point to the watch letting everyone know “Don’t worry, I’m going to add it on” and being all happy with themselves that their doing a great job.

So just like when the Golden Goal was brought in to make extra time more attacking but actually made things more defensive, the stop-watch would actually increase instances of the dark arts simply because it’s not just about wasting time, it’s about disrupting the game.

When your defence it taking battering, wouldn’t you prefer to have a player hit the deck so your team can’t catch their breath and your kill your opponents momentum? Every close game will make your typical El Classico look free flowing, because if refs are afraid to dish out cards when this playacting does affect the clock, they’re sure as hell are not going to do it if it doesn’t.

Unless you’re Arsenal, of course.
Big D, Luxembourg