Ollie Watkins

[Tom13]

On 15/12/2021 at 09:05, villalad21 said:

He wasn't abysmal. 

Some poor decision making in the final third but the work he puts in is crucial for the team. 

We'd be a worse outfit without him. 

I absolutely love Watkins. My favorite villa player. 

I love his workrate. He'll never be my favourite player though. Got a soft spot for intelligent players.

[Tom13]

On 15/12/2021 at 09:37, useless said:

He played well again, and has been our best attacker this season. Seems to have taken Mings' place as a player who gets unfairly criticized even when he does well.

It's not that at all mate. People are just calling him as they see him, which from what I can see is spot on. He can be great, but is also extremely frustrating.

[useless]

He's been fine this season, people are doing the exact same thing they were doing with Mings that is focusing on one or two mistakes me might make and completely ignoring all the good he does. I think people get a certain idea into their heads about a player and then just look out for things that confirm that idea, Watkins could score a goal get an assist find himself involved in every good attack we make in a game, but if he has a few instances where he fails to hold the ball up well or loses it by trying to make something happen, then a lot just focus on that.

He's looked considerably better than Ings, yet Ings doesn't get anywhere near the same criticisim, in fact as above he's been our best attacking player this season, and no coincident that we've improved since being moved back to the centre forward position.

Five goals so far, that's just one less than he'd scored last season after we'd played seventeen games, but he himself has played less this season and his goals this season have been spread over more games. Nineteen goals and eight assists in fifty-two Premier League appearances, it's been a long time since we've had a striker as good as him and he has been pivotal to our progress over the last two seasons.

 

[YouUnastanFren]

20 minutes ago, useless said:

I think people get a certain idea into their heads about a player and then just look out for things that confirm that idea

Confirmation bias heuristics like this are incredibly pervasive and difficult to avoid using (even if you're aware of them and actively try to avoid using them) especially when trying to assess something as complicated as a footballer's overall performance.

Brains are lazy and want the easiest route to a conclusion of any thought, that's why the idea Mings makes too many errors, Watkins too often can't control the ball, Buendia gives it away too often etc. have been able to take root.

Once the brain is primed with these ideas after reading them, it only needs one instance of this happening to be satisfied with this conclusion. In reality, without comparing their stats to the baseline of similar players playing a similar role it's impossible to know how good these players really are at any of these things.

But reducing every player and every action to a percentile of where they sit in the grand scheme of things is boring, thankfully fbref does a reasonable job of it for us.

[TRO]

14 hours ago, Keyblade said:

Reminds me of when Ramsey said Gerrard didn't say anything to him about his goal at half time. A man of few words our gaffer  

......and its right to be like that....Too much talking and they lose respect.

Its best to mean what you say.......and not try to say what you mean.

Players have told me..MON was always on his phone when they walked past him at Bmh ( but he wasn't).

[nick76]

3 hours ago, useless said:

yet Ings doesn't get anywhere near the same criticisim

There is a whole thread where he’s getting constantly criticised and people wanting him to be sold if possible in the Danny Ings thread.  Ings gets far more criticised than Ollie to the extent that people think he should be sold, Ollie has never had that yet their stats aren’t much different.  

If you’ve watched the games, I think it’s hard to argue against that Ollie isn’t performing as well as last season despite his goals.

[WallisFrizz]

Watching him on the pitch, in interviews and on social media, he just seems so much happier recently. His whole body language has changed for the better. Seems to be enjoying himself again. 
 

 

[ender4]

1 minute ago, WallisFrizz said:

Watching him on the pitch, in interviews and on social media, he just seems so much happier recently. His whole body language has changed for the better. Seems to be enjoying himself again. 

yeah, i thought that as well.

[Don_Simon]

Someone in the Norwich reaction thread said Ollie was "awful". 

A goal and an assist = awful. 

That belongs on the Twitter account "AbsoluteShiteVillaFansSay". 

[nick76]

5 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

Someone in the Norwich reaction thread said Ollie was "awful". 

A goal and an assist = awful. 

That belongs on the Twitter account "AbsoluteShiteVillaFansSay". 

I didn’t think he was awful and yes that counted as an assist but in the real world a three yard quality pass on the half way line shouldn’t be called an assist, should it!

[Don_Simon]

Just now, nick76 said:

I didn’t think he was awful and yes that counted as an assist but in the real world a three yard quality pass on the half way line shouldn’t be called an assist, should it!

The hold up play and ability to get that ball off to Ramsey, in his stride, in those circumstances, yes, that's an assist.

[Mister_a]

I think the issue people have with him, is that over the past several games there have been situations where if he had looked up instead of running into blind alleys, we would have scored at least 2-3 more goals as a team.

I personally think he feels threatened by Ings, and is trying too hard to prove that he is the main man.

I'm not knocking his workrate, but his decision making at times can be poor.

[nick76]

2 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

The hold up play and ability to get that ball off to Ramsey, in his stride, in those circumstances, yes, that's an assist.

Ok then

[nick76]

1 minute ago, Mister_a said:

I think the issue people have with him, is that over the past several games there have been situations where if he had looked up instead of running into blind alleys, we would have scored at least 2-3 more goals as a team.

I personally think he feels threatened by Ings, and is trying too hard to prove that he is the main man.

I'm not knocking his workrate, but his decision making at times can be poor.

Yep, this!

[ender4]

6 minutes ago, Mister_a said:

 

I personally think he feels threatened by Ings, and is trying too hard to prove that he is the main man.

 

yes, exactly this!

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

3 hours ago, YouUnastanFren said:

Confirmation bias heuristics like this are incredibly pervasive and difficult to avoid using (even if you're aware of them and actively try to avoid using them) especially when trying to assess something as complicated as a footballer's overall performance.

Brains are lazy and want the easiest route to a conclusion of any thought, that's why the idea Mings makes too many errors, Watkins too often can't control the ball, Buendia gives it away too often etc. have been able to take root.

Once the brain is primed with these ideas after reading them, it only needs one instance of this happening to be satisfied with this conclusion. In reality, without comparing their stats to the baseline of similar players playing a similar role it's impossible to know how good these players really are at any of these things.

But reducing every player and every action to a percentile of where they sit in the grand scheme of things is boring, thankfully fbref does a reasonable job of it for us.

You should have signed this off with your user name. 

[Phil Silvers]

It's a baby.

 

[WallisFrizz]

Sky sports casually dropping him in as a potential replacement for Auba. I should be used to it, it shouldn’t annoy me but it does.

[nick76]

Just now, WallisFrizz said:

Sky sports casually dropping him in as a potential replacement for Auba. I should be used to it, it shouldn’t annoy me but it does.

Just casually as well as if it be a done deal if Arsenal wanted.  Absolutely no respect for Villa at all.

[Eliseav]

49 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

It's a baby.

 

It’s like he’s looking at ings

not quite sure what to do