Potentially big benefits if Arsenal do get the timings right though. They get to choose the matchups across the defensive line and the defence don't get much time to adjust

Villa's change in positional rotations after the substitutions had such a huge impact. Jashari kept getting caught between following Kamara to RB or covering the space he vacated.

Mings' clearance worth a goal of its own too.

Thought Ramsey was hard done by being subbed at half time but it worked out I guess 😅 Best performance from Bogarde I've seen.

Football is a low scoring game. It's hard to win when you're consistently giving the opposition a goals head start.

A big part of Villa's season has been how often we've had to come back from behind (and a big part of last season is how often we went ahead at home)

Have to wonder how different things would've been if Duran hadn't received that wildly unfair red card against Newcastle. Without the suspension Watkins might not have reclaimed the starting spot & Jhon could well have been more inclined to stay.

Not gonna even pretend to be excited about what the money 'unlocks' for us. Duran to Saudi Arabia is shite, man.

Inconsistent, maddening, but fuckin hell he had my jaw dropping the floor.

Kamara really is incredible (and very underrated outside Villa circles). Hope we can tie him down to a new contract and keep him at the club for a long time to come.

Pretty clear one of Watkins or Duran will be leaving Villa sooner or later. Solves a PSR problem (for another season) and fixes a, albeit nice to have, headache for the manager. I just hope that whichever one it is, they leave in the summer and not this window.

In retrospect I think Kamara into CB might have been the best of the options? But he was so good in midfield and I doubt McGinn could've played the whole match.

Mings' injury was the turning point for sure. Dominant before then with some lovely one touch football, just couldn't get going after.

Much less keen on the long throws though. Digne rarely seems to get the ball as far as we want

Brilliant football to start from Villa.

MacPhee cooking with the set piece blocks too.

Watching him it feels like every other touch Jhon Duran takes is a shot. It's just kinda fun.

Emi Martinez that is world class 🤯

(Stealing Billy's gif to make a Villa point) Martinez should be more decisive here and probably come out to head the ball but Konsa really should be using his body to stop Openda from getting through too. A little too casual imo.

Béziers, Bivariates, and Beyond Some Tricks I Wish I Knew Earlier

These are some of my favourite "tricks" that I've picked up over the last few years that have been particularly useful in soccer analytics.

I am begging other teams to at least try and copy Arsenal's corner routines. Everyone tried the Bournemouth kickoff, why is no one trying these heavy backpost orientation sets?

Unexpected Origins and the Fermi Paradox Can foundational soccer ideas achieve escape velocity?

A football formulation of the fermi paradox – in blog post! Where are the new ideas?

Chelsea obviously the better team, but some finishing variance makes that result look a lot worse than it actually was. Villa can and need to be better but sometimes the ball just goes in 🤷‍♂️

Feels like we've tried to change a bit too much too quickly. Not entirely sure why we changed our build up and abandoned the high line but that combined with losing Douglas Luiz, a bit of bad luck, and some low confidence/poor form is leading to some bad results.

A firing Watkins puts away either of those 2 chances and that half doesn't look nearly as bad. Unfortunately Villa look completely devoid of confidence right now and seem determined to give Chelsea opportunities in the dumbest ways possible.

Alternatively other teams don't use them enough. Really surprised we don't see more teams trying to follow the Arsenal playbook

Great hold from Joelinton to make sure Tonali has space for the through ball in that Newcastle goal. Affects the defender but subtle enough it probably doesn't get called.

EPL fans don't know how lucky they have it with English referees compared to Europe. Some of the decisions in this Villa Juve game 😬

The Really Dark Truth About Bots YouTube video by Benn Jordan

If you have any friends still on Twitter, show them this video. 😬
youtu.be/GZ5XN_mJE8Y?...

Ahh that's a shame, thanks anyway.

Really interesting read 👌 is the talk from NESIS 2021 available to watch anywhere?