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In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Aston Villa attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including Villa’s Champions League debut, Brennan Johnson’s social media abuse plus much more.
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Villa’s brilliant UCL debut hands them advantage in captivating new format
(Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP)
I looked at the Champions League table this morning, and I saw Bayern Munich, then Celtic, then Aston Villa.
It’s going to be a tough old series of games and a massive test for Villa, but I’m actually more confident than going to lots of places like Young Boys.
I think that when you’ve got so many big games – Bayern at home, Juventus at home, Celtic at home – interspersed with Monaco and Club Brugge, that Villa are more comfortable in that kind of environment.
When you’re paired against minnows, with respect, it’s very difficult to be up for a European night.
UEFA changed the format to stop the issue at the latter stages where the big teams had already qualified and the smaller teams knew that they were going to go into the Europa League, so everything was a little bit ‘meh.’
Now that isn’t the case, and big teams could be going into the final game of the league set up needing to win – so it drags that little bit extra out of you.
I was incredibly critical of this new league phase because none of us really like massive change, but I think that we’ll get better games, stranger outcomes for longer and ultimately, you have to put your hands up and say that’s what we want as fans.
That jeopardy and the need to get points in most games makes it a captivating and fascinating watch.
Man City should be relegated to the National League if found guilty
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
My bar on whether Man City beat the charges against them is set very low because when you are employing best-in-class lawyers, who are finding out every single part of law, that’s an obvious advantage.
It’s the red tape,…
Source link : https://www.caughtoffside.com/2024/09/19/collymores-column-man-city/
Author : Stan Collymore
Publish date : 2024-09-19 12:12:40
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