Spoony Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 The annoying thing is that Watkins has really been timing these runs perfectly but it’s just these ridiculous offside rules now that are killing him and the game. So now for a player to time their run they can’t really be in line, they really have to ensure that they’re a step behind the last man which is ridiculous. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 It was a really good team goal as well 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MentalM Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 I think his off ball movement and runs are amazing. The movement towards right wing on Traores goal creates the space thats needed for the finish. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 I said before the season he will have quiet spells where it doesn't go right. He could easily have another 3 goals right now as well, two mad offsides and a pen. Think he has also hit the post twice. Stick with him, he will score goals. Next season will be his major breakthrough. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb_82 Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 9 minutes ago, MentalM said: I think his off ball movement and runs are amazing. The movement towards right wing on Traores goal creates the space thats needed for the finish. And he headed it down to Traore for the cross for the first goal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philosopher Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 He is so hungry for goals. So grumpy when he doesn't score. Works his socks off and his movement is excellent. Going to be a top prem striker so long as he stays clear of injury. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 8 hours ago, Stevo985 said: I don't think it has to be daylight, that would still come down to measuring millimetres. As I've said elsewhere don't have lines. Just review the footage like they do with everything else. If it's clear that the call on the pitch was wrong then overturn it. If it's not then the call stands. If you have to draw lines and measure whether Watkins' sleeve is an inch offside, then it's not clear enough to be overturned. Flip side of this is if the on-field call for Ollie's goal is offside. It's not immediately clear that they're wrong so the on-field call stands. We've gained nothing and VAR is kind of obsolete, essentially relegated to mitigating absolute clangers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Still hopeful he can be our Jamie Vardy ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
It's Your Round Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 I’m still really annoyed by that offside decision, but there’s sod all we can do about it. It’s just how football is now, unfortunately. I’ve been impressed with Watkins so far, he’s already been a huge improvement on Wesley, Davis and Sammatta. He’s got so many positive attributes, power, pace, finishing, attitude and energy. He will only get better. The best for me is that his presence up front has enabled Smith to play the football that he wants, we sorely missed that dynamic forward last season and you can see the difference in our attacks now. So much more fluid and unpredictable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted December 21, 2020 Moderator Share Posted December 21, 2020 This isn’t a criticism of Watkins, just to put that stake in the ground from the off but he is raw. I think he has done very well so far but at times there are elements of his game that betray the meteoric rise in the level he is at having been at Exeter not so long ago. That is to expected in my opinion regardless of what we paid for him, in that respect I see similarities to how raw Vardy was when he arrived at Leicester. I’m not in any way drawing comparisons between the two players but I think the speed of their rise is similar. We have seen with Trez, Konsa, Luiz and Targett how players can adapt, develop and improve in relatively short periods of time and I think we will see the same with Watkins. One thing we can be sure of is that we have a coaching set up capable of bellowing players, something we’ve not had in many years in my view. We’ve an excellent GK coach, Terry works a lot with the defence and Shakespeare’s arrival and influence on our play really shouldn’t be overlooked. There is m up m o m m mthough in my opinion a glaring hole in the set up, a specialist striker coach. I seem to recall Rush had a role at Liverpool working with Fowler a couple of days a week and that’s what we need. We need a top striker working with Watkins, Wesley and Davis because the later two I think have shown less progress than players in other positions which may at least in part be down to our coaching make up. I recall Stan Collymore remarking last season that Wesley was very raw and needed an experienced PL forward as a coach to develop him. I think he was absolutely on the money. I listened with interest to Kevin Philips talking about the coaching work he did with Vardy in his early days at Leicester this week which strengthened my view on this. Watkins is raw but talented, I think he would benefit massively for the right addition to our coaching staff and I really hope it’s something Smith is considering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG_Villa_Fan Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 He's been very unlucky with these VAR offsides, must be incredibly frustrating but the work he's doing pressing every game and his movement offers a lot even when he's not scoring goals. The only thing I'm unpleasantly surprised by is his ball control, which I expected would be much better after being a winger for years. Might be just him getting used to the quicker speed of the premier league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 12 minutes ago, TrentVilla said: This isn’t a criticism of Watkins, just to put that stake in the ground from the off but he is raw. I think he has done very well so far but at times there are elements of his game that betray the meteoric rise in the level he is at having been at Exeter not so long ago. That is to expected in my opinion regardless of what we paid for him, in that respect I see similarities to how raw Vardy was when he arrived at Leicester. I’m not in any way drawing comparisons between the two players but I think the speed of their rise is similar. We have seen with Trez, Konsa, Luiz and Targett how players can adapt, develop and improve in relatively short periods of time and I think we will see the same with Watkins. One thing we can be sure of is that we have a coaching set up capable of bellowing players, something we’ve not had in many years in my view. We’ve an excellent GK coach, Terry works a lot with the defence and Shakespeare’s arrival and influence on our play really shouldn’t be overlooked. There is m up m o m m mthough in my opinion a glaring hole in the set up, a specialist striker coach. I seem to recall Rush had a role at Liverpool working with Fowler a couple of days a week and that’s what we need. We need a top striker working with Watkins, Wesley and Davis because the later two I think have shown less progress than players in other positions which may at least in part be down to our coaching make up. I recall Stan Collymore remarking last season that Wesley was very raw and needed an experienced PL forward as a coach to develop him. I think he was absolutely on the money. I listened with interest to Kevin Philips talking about the coaching work he did with Vardy in his early days at Leicester this week which strengthened my view on this. Watkins is raw but talented, I think he would benefit massively for the right addition to our coaching staff and I really hope it’s something Smith is considering. I said it last season with Wesley but Smith should ask Terry to bring in Drogba a couple of days a week to teach both of them the ropes 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted December 21, 2020 Moderator Share Posted December 21, 2020 11 minutes ago, Zatman said: I said it last season with Wesley but Smith should ask Terry to bring in Drogba a couple of days a week to teach both of them the ropes I’ve been trying to think of a candidate for it but hadn’t thought of him, he would be perfect. Not sure he lives in England though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted December 21, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted December 21, 2020 30 minutes ago, Keyblade said: Flip side of this is if the on-field call for Ollie's goal is offside. It's not immediately clear that they're wrong so the on-field call stands. We've gained nothing and VAR is kind of obsolete, essentially relegated to mitigating absolute clangers. That's fine. I think it's perfectly possible that the same call could be both offside and on side depending on what was given on the pitch. If it's not clear from a review whether the decision is wrong then the benefit of doubt is given to the on field decision. FWIW I think on this occasion anyone reviewing that footage by eye would say Watkins was onside. It's only because of the current rules, which aren't fit for purpose, that he's offside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 The offside rule should always benefit the attacker in 50/50 situations. Obviously not to a silly degree but these too close to call offsides needs to go. As for Watkins I really hope for his and our sake that he gets the rub of the green soon as scoring in just 3 out of 12 games is maybe not as good as hoped considering he's played almost every minute. 6 goals is OK mind and it could/should easily have been 3 more. Also fully onboard with improving the coaching set up even more, can only be a good thing. I've wanted Luc Nilis back for years and I think he's unemployed atm after working as a forward coach in Turkey. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-k Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 18 minutes ago, sne said: The offside rule should always benefit the attacker in 50/50 situations. Obviously not to a silly degree but these too close to call offsides needs to go. As for Watkins I really hope for his and our sake that he gets the rub of the green soon as scoring in just 3 out of 12 games is maybe not as good as hoped considering he's played almost every minute. 6 goals is OK mind and it could/should easily have been 3 more. Also fully onboard with improving the coaching set up even more, can only be a good thing. I've wanted Luc Nilis back for years and I think he's unemployed atm after working as a forward coach in Turkey. That's what the almanacs will say, but to anyone watching it's 5 in 12 games with an average of 2 goals per 3 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 (edited) 4 minutes ago, a-k said: That's what the almanacs will say, but to anyone watching it's 5 in 12 games with an average of 2 goals per 3 games. Everyone watching would be wrong then as it's actually 6 in 12 Edited December 21, 2020 by sne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OxfordVillan Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 46 minutes ago, TrentVilla said: I’ve been trying to think of a candidate for it but hadn’t thought of him, he would be perfect. Not sure he lives in England though. We could do worse than Teddy Sheringham as a forwards coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post villa4europe Posted December 21, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 21, 2020 The athletic this morning giving stats that's he's applying more pressure in the final 3rd than any other player in the PL Our good defence and clean sheets stats are starting with him Not what anyone would expect, unfortunately he'll ultimately be judged by goals but he's improved us massively as a team with his off the ball stuff so it's good to see at least some sort of stat prove it 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted December 21, 2020 Moderator Share Posted December 21, 2020 Just now, OxfordVillan said: We could do worse than Teddy Sheringham as a forwards coach. Not sure, he was a quite unique player and isn’t really similar to the forwards we have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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