I now understand why I don’t feel most of these games matter - 24 out of the 36 teams advance to the knockout round. You kind of already know the majority of the 12 teams that won’t make it (your Shaktars, Sturm Graz, etc of the tournament). So a match like Aston Villa vs Bayern today - it doesn’t matter that much who wins. Those teams will get their points elsewhere.
The matches that actually have the most drama are shyt like Celtic vs Club Brugge on November 27, where both teams will be fighting for those last spots. So its kind of like a relegation battle more than anything else.