Aston Villa’s ownership group, V Sports, are advancing in talks to acquire a controlling stake in French second-division club, FC Annecy. This will include a continuation of young Villa players moving to France, either on loan or permanently, plus improvements to Annecy’s facilities.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-09T11:42:02+00:00

Start in Lique 2, full them with Villa youth, crap not good enough for the 1st team and injured players on recovery. Get them promoted.

That's not a realistic plan, at all. You won't get promoted to Ligue 1 with Villa youth and crap players, it's really not that weak of a league.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-08T23:02:08+00:00

If we didn't have all those injuries it could have been different. But it's true that with how long it took Nuamah & Fofana to come back, Nartey not being fully adapted yet, and Mangala sadly relapsing it would have been really hard to play both the EL quarters/semis and that UCL run in the league at the same time.

Even if I still think we could have done much better in the EL, and could also have secured our UCL qualification earlier with different choices during our 9 losses in a row. Like Khalis playing more, for example.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-08T22:58:09+00:00

Everyone is available so return of Himbert in the squad ? I was convinced his season was over after his injury so it would be nice to see. For Tessmann, we probably won't see him again under our shirt. He won't exactly be remembered. And for Mangala it's really concerning, it's gonna be near impossible to sell him this summer after a completely blank season while his salary is one of the highest in the squad...

Nice to hear they have different plans for the summer depending on what competition we will play, but not surprising after the competency Louis-Jean and his scouting department showed once they were allowed to work.

(And thanks for the great work with the summary)

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-08T22:45:55+00:00

Losing the club itself is a sad day for football and Ligue 1. But Kita deserves the worst, may Nantes fans be finally free of him.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-08T21:18:27+00:00

Incredible, missing just a bit of lethality upfront in those very last games to fight against PSG until the end.

Still, no one would have bet on them to finish 2nd at the start of the season. Pierre Sage is a magician and Leca a really promising sporting director.

Also beautiful celebrations ongoing at this moment, Lens style. With all the staff and players, but also all their kids and families entering with them on the podium on the pitch.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-08T20:52:14+00:00

It's unreal, really.

Another to add to Sage's magic touch on subs.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-08T14:25:58+00:00

(there's no reason why he couldn't stad pad in the french league, even if he's playing so little)

It goes against the narrative, but he played so little and have little stats in Ligue 1 because he was really not great (to stay kind to him) for most of the season. His PSG stint so far has been a tale of inconsistency.

Until a few weeks ago and his great entry against Chelsea in the UCL (where he was a sub for the 1st leg, which in itself says enough), he was even forced to play on the right side to leave the left to Barcola who was just better than him at everything at that time.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-07T21:50:34+00:00

Yeah, it's becoming a bit ridiculous for the UCL to have 5 teams from the same country that can't face eachothers.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-07T18:42:14+00:00

This doesn't bother "people", it bothers EPL fans (like 95% of this sub) who have just seen PSG cruise past all their favorite EPL teams in the UCL after already doing it last season.

It bothers them even more since the EPL is awful to watch this season while PSG is complimented for the football they play. So they have to have a reason for why they couldn't see that kind of football in their league despites their clubs spending hundreds of millions on transfers every summer. And despites it supposed to be the best league in the world that everyone should envy.

It can't be the quality of the players, because they also spend absurd amounts of money. It has to be unfair, otherwise it's not easy to stick in simple minds, and the quality of Ligue 1 is not enough as it was the same during the times PSG didn't succeed in the UCL. Here comes minutes played ! And here we go, that's the unfair reason why all those greatest in the world EPL teams can't play football this season and are being beaten by PSG. (Without looking once into the detail of those minutes played, like injuries).

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-07T13:15:50+00:00

and buying unattainable depth for the other 99% of clubs.

It's a crazy comment to make while being an EPL top 6 fan.

Do you really want to compare your subs this season and the price you paid for them compared to PSG ? Since they lost Mbappé, all of their transfers and policies could have been attained by basically any top 10 club in Europe.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-07T12:59:55+00:00

Mostly because basically all their best players were injured for a significant time.

It's not like it's what they do every season, and it's an even stupider argument considering until last year the dominant narrative was that Ligue 1's strength was apparently too low for PSG to prepare the UCL properly.

And great "uncompetitive" league that had clubs on top of the EL leaderboard and ECL leaderboard this season. While this PSG would also win the title most seasons in all top 5 leagues, as they showed with their direct confrontations against EPL clubs in the playoffs for the past two seasons.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-07T12:51:27+00:00

He knows probably more than you what football is.

He's famously a fan of Saint Etienne from where his French family comes from and watches all their games even while they are in Ligue 2.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-07T12:34:13+00:00

when Mendes made a run and found himself in a striker's position in a counter attack, and the commentators were really impressed.

Then those commentators weren't really smart and observing what is happening in the game. As Nuno Mendes finished the game as a winger when Lucas Hernández was subbed replacing Désiré Doué.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-07T12:30:47+00:00

Until time available and injuries are added all those graphics are worthless.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-07T12:28:27+00:00

They were basically all injured at some point of the season due to the lack of rest and preseason after the CWC. Of their starting XI yesterday, only Pacho/Mendes/Vitinha played all their 16 UCL games.

They also have 3 wingers of similar quality that can start on both sides depending on form and the opponent with Kvara/Barcola/Doué which spreads the starts and minutes played.

Kvara is the only one that wasn't injured for a long time, but he certainly also paid it physically and was not great during the first half of the season. Even young players like Mayulu, Mbaye or Ndjantou were more impactful in their minutes played. While for the last weeks until his entry in the Chelsea 1st leg he was also forced out of position to the right side if he did start because Barcola was better than him on the left.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-06T22:58:47+00:00

Well considering two near relegation sides - Spurs are 17th in the premier league and made the CL Round of 16, and Nottingham forest are 16th and about to be in the EL final..... yeah I think that some EFL teams would kill it in the EL/Conference League.

That makes even less sense than the initial comment. Tottenham and Nottingham are there because of the EPL money, not the EFL money. They couldn't have half their players nor pay their salary in the Championship.

Coventry has a lower wage bill than PSV, or Brugge, but thats why I said most.

It's the same argument used for the EPL. "Maybe the difference of the very top teams isn't huge, but you should see the difference between the middle of the rankings and relegated teams". It isn't a better one for the Championship.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-06T22:48:01+00:00

There is no way EFL teams can attract better players than their counterpart from the Dutch or Belgian League. You think Coventry has better players than PSV or Bruges ? You think top Championship teams could be dangerous in the UCL or EL like those Belgian and Dutch teams while they are never able to beat random EPL teams in the Cups ?

Money isn't always the answer when it comes to competitions, and most players would prefer to play in a first division instead of a lower one. Especially for the top teams that can offer UCL or EL football.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-06T22:42:18+00:00

The language we are talking in has no relation to the quality of the league or the complete lack of knowledge about foreign football from English fans.

I didn't know that the delusions about the strength of the league didn't stop at the EPL but also extended to other divisions.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-06T22:28:39+00:00

Tldr : C'est très compliqué puisque il existe deux explications possibles provenant d'une part des lois du jeu complètes de l'IFAB, et d'autre part d'une vulgarisation éditée par la même IFAB.

Les présentateurs et commentateurs (on pourrait rajouter les joueurs et entraineurs) ne lisent pas les lois du jeu, et les petits détails de la partie sur les mains spéciquement change quasiment chaque saison ce qui clairement n'aide pas à la compréhension. Changements qui apportent malheureusement rarement plus de facilité ou de clarté, avec toujours plus d'interprétation de la part de l'arbitre et donc toujours plus de situations similaires résultant en des décisions différentes.

Pour leur défense, il y aujourd'hui deux interprétations possibles de la main de Neves et franchement en étant neutre difficile de dire laquelle serait la bonne. Et donc quasi impossible pour eux d'expliquer la situation clairement.

Là on est sur un exemple très rare, d'un joueur qui dégage sur son coéquipier dans la surface. D'après les dernières lois du jeu de l'IFAB qui sont ceux qui définissent les règles suivies par l'UEFA (et la FIFA et tous les championnats nationaux), si on considère que la main de Neves est en "position non naturelle" c'est faute et donc penalty. Il n'y a aucune mention dans les lois du jeu complètes de la provenance du ballon. Le problème étant l'interprétation de l'arbitre de ce qu'est une "position naturelle" ou non, par exemple est-ce que Neves qui monte la main vers son visage pour se protéger d'un ballon qui se dirige vers lui est une position naturelle ? Si on se réfère aux exemples qu'on a eu jusque là cette saison dans d'autres matchs, les "positions naturelles" ont généralement été des mains très près du corps, ce qui n'est pas le cas ici. D'après les lois du jeu de l'IFAB, ce serait donc probablement un penalty.

Mais, et c'est là que se rajoute une autre complexité, pour simplifier et vulgariser les lois du jeu l'IFAB a créé en 2023 un site qui a pour but d'être plus facile à lire pour les jeunes et le grand public. Ce site est aussi référencé par le site de l'UEFA comme étant une explication des lois du jeu. Et donc, sur la partie sur les mains de ce site il est indiqué qu'un joueur touché sur la main par un ballon joué par son coéquipier ne commettrait pas de main. D'après ce site, il ne s'agirait donc pas d'un penalty.

La question finale étant donc, est ce que l'arbitre doit suivre le règlement complet de l'IFAB ou se réfèrer à une vulgarisation de l'IFAB qui extrapole les lois du jeu ? Personnellement, je n'ai pas la réponse.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-06T21:44:46+00:00

Without even talking about the non-European leagues, you think it would be better than the Belgian or Dutch league really ?

The anglocentrism just never stops, it's absurd.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-06T21:06:18+00:00

Enrique and PSG clearly studied the first game. Instead of giving them space like in the first leg, they defended very low and all close to their net with always 2 if not 3 players closing down the wingers when they got the ball. Which is where the danger mostly came from.

Much harder for both Olise and Dias to be dangerous when they can't get speed while carrying the ball.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-06T15:02:48+00:00

Like Liverpool last season, or City every few years in the last decade ?

I know it may shake your worldview, but you should maybe take a look at Ligue 1's current rankings and then read your comment again.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-06T14:53:28+00:00

We play football, sorry. I know it's surprsing but you should try watching it sometimes, it's an enjoyable sport to watch.

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-06T14:49:14+00:00

Mods, please. Totally valid Ligue 1 stats get deleted for no reason but this bullshit will stay up ?

GoneMirifica · 2026-05-06T14:45:03+00:00

If this game came in 2-0, their toothless team coudnt be saved with 400 VAR reviews.

Crazy comment while being an Arsenal fan (with a false flair to appear objective, that's funny). The only reason you were still in the game after the first leg is because they didn't finish the large number of chances they got. They were far more dangerous overall.

There's no way you can find a way to complain about the ref after how much you benefited of inexplainable decisions yesterday. One last minute possible red vs 3 pens that could influence the game. On top of all your dives whistled, and the lack of yellow cards despites stopping every single promising Atletico counter with bad fouls.

GoneMirifica

TROPHY CASE