VillanousOne

Until he starts scoring again and then everything is fine, i'm sure there are many better strikers out there that will come to us... no probs, get Monchi on it bruv he'll sort us right out If you believe half the crap spouted on this forum, about two players are 'good enough' for wherever it is people think we should be, it's called Spurs syndrome, always one striker or midfielder off greatness

Even his peak is good enough for us

people like storms in their tea cup, i prefer sugar

I loved both Dalian and Dean but Watkins has already got more goals than either and I'd guess more assists. People forget that the level of football has changed, outside of Haaland how many strikers are consistent let alone English ones???

People forget how often Benteke would get injured and how long he would take to regain his form, he was awesome when match fit and firing but as soon as he got some consistency he went to Liverpool... Watkins maybe frustrating but he's still one of the best strikers we have ever had and would take years to replace

the question is... can he play out from the back under a high press if he can then he should start as the rest of our team struggle

I would be annoyed if i sat on the bench watching the Newcastle and Liverpool performances....

we've missed him a great deal in terms of influence in order Mings, Ramsey, Buendia, Moreno 4 core players we have lost to injury, no team recovers easily from that no matter who you try and sign.

Steve Stone was also in the crowd and pulled a hamstring getting a pie at halftime

speculated/hoped - at that point no results of scans would have even come back

all because Doug wouldn't pay an extra 500K

Muzzy Izzet, Jermaine Defoe David Unsworth (kidding)

still no news on the injury? Have we reached the point we have so many dire injuries the club have decided to stop releasing information to protect morale?????

Diaby is great with the ball in front of him or creating chances, he is great with his feet and technically, but i've not seen any evidence he has the physicality or height to hold the ball up or win balls easily when played long, which considering with Ollie we play quite a few long balls to him kinda is needed. Diaby was pinged off the ball by Liverpool players a number of times very easily, same Bailey, they made us look like an U15 team at times the difference in physicality, we literally lost 90% off all 50/50s.

If Olsen was any good, maybe. But the point is not about rotation - it's about if Watkins gets injured we have no one remotely similar to him in the squad.

that's indeed what i meant

This. Diaby, Traore, Kellyman and Bailey don't have the physical presence to play the lone striker role if Watkins gets injured. Zanilo might but that is as yet an unknown. Buendia if fit is the only player we have who has that physical hussle about his game and yet he would also be useless getting on the end of long balls as Watkins does - and the Arsenal comparisons are pointless, we aren't Arsenal and we heavily rely on Watkins to start almost all of our forward play. Ollie maybe lacking in form but even when he is failing to score he still creates the space that people around him can exploit and get goals. I think Duran and even Archer are players like Ings that need the ball laid on a plate/in front of them to score goals, they aren't going to ruffle feathers - get on the end of long balls or tussle in 50/50s like Ollie does. Duran might get there but he is so raw he would be better of getting a loan than being a back up. If Watkins was injured - we would need to set up differently, not having like for like back up option is a huge fail for me.

Cash, Digne have never dealt well with a high press. Kamara and Doug aren't brilliant either. Konsa is better but capable of making mistakes under pressure (see Newcastle). Pau has come from a league where you get more time and space, people forget Carlos has only played 4 Prem games. That back four will continue to get ripped apart by any of the Top 6 clubs unless they learn quickly or we play differently. If you can't successfully play out from the back when you have players running at you, stop trying...

Regardless of injuries we have almost always been ripped apart by teams that press hard and high, yes it's mainly the best teams that do this, but we really have to get a handle on this. At the moment though the defenders (not injured) do not seem comfortable playing together

I think Emery needs to look at our playing out of the back and high line tactics. It took Mings a fair bit of time to lead the organisation of that and even then every team we've played who play an aggressive high press has caused us problems. If we don't press ourselves and close down quickly then we just get our arse handed to us, for some reason we didn't against Liverpool - despite doing this the last time we played them. This is as much about Torres being green as it is opposition coaches knowing exactly how to exploit our weaknesses. Cash and Digne have zero defensive footballing brain when it comes to dealing with any press or fast counters - for Pau to have a chance at bedding into this league we have to look at our shape.

we aren't a team challenging the top 4

where was this skill you speak of? Unless playing like a pub team is a skill

We've not recovered from the loss of Mings, there is zero organisation at the back just a bunch of players who look like they just met

losing every 50/50, bullied off the ball like children, falling over during almost every attack, utterly clueless defensively, the guy isn't Gandalf!

can't beat a high press playing out the back, shocker