Popular Post lexicon Posted July 30, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted July 30, 2023 15 minutes ago, Dillon66 said: ....and therein lies the problem. He's not even close to good enough for 'where we want to be'......far from it. He has no spatial awareness in the box, useless in the air, and just swings a boot at whatever drops close to him. In a one on one situation with the keeper, I'd expect him to miss more than he scores. He scored 15 last season in spite of his deficiencies, not because he's good.....I heard he expects to score 20+ next season ? God knows where we're going to get 45 penalties from. This is one of the worst takes I've ever seen, congratulations. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villan_of_oz Posted July 30, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 30, 2023 1 minute ago, lexicon said: This is one of the worst takes I've ever seen, congratulations. I was struggling to word my reply appropriately to that post. Thanks for doing it for me. I guess it takes all types of "fans" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 28 minutes ago, Dillon66 said: ....and therein lies the problem. He's not even close to good enough for 'where we want to be'......far from it. He has no spatial awareness in the box, useless in the air, and just swings a boot at whatever drops close to him. In a one on one situation with the keeper, I'd expect him to miss more than he scores. He scored 15 last season in spite of his deficiencies, not because he's good.....I heard he expects to score 20+ next season ? God knows where we're going to get 45 penalties from. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 23 minutes ago, Villan_of_oz said: If strikers are the sole reason you get Champions League football, then don't worry Wout Weghoust, Callum Wilson and Eddie Nketiah helped get their teams CL football just this season past. Callum Wilson is very good and scored a good amount of goals. The other 2 are bit part players not their main senior striker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 26 minutes ago, lexicon said: This is one of the worst takes I've ever seen, congratulations. Is there a competition today? I've seen several Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skarroki Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 1 hour ago, DCJonah said: Callum Wilson is very good and scored a good amount of goals. The other 2 are bit part players not their main senior striker. Although I agree Wilson is good, he's also made of glass and I feel like there is a ticking timebomb on his current abilities, any injury could be the one that he never comes back from. Watkins on the other hand is made of something different, he's immune from injury and illness. Watkins I think struggles the most psychologically out of all the strikers I've watched at Villa. It looks like the air weighs a metric tonne around him whenever he's not scored in 3 or 4 games. He would hang his head low and be shaking his head at himself. The first season he must have had 5 goals disallowed by VAR and every time you could see, he was blaming himself for the VAR decision and had a look of "well that was my only chance of scoring". On that goalscoring run last season, he looked like a different man. That miss against Chelsea was a classic example, in other seasons I'd point to that and think "he won't be scoring for 5 games now". But in that match, when he went through on goal minutes later and tried that audacious chip, you could tell - this is a guy that knows how good he is and knows if he misses, he just needs to go again and something will happen. I'm excited to see what he produces next season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 1 hour ago, skarroki said: Watkins I think struggles the most psychologically out of all the strikers I've watched at Villa. It looks like the air weighs a metric tonne around him whenever he's not scored in 3 or 4 games. He would hang his head low and be shaking his head at himself. The first season he must have had 5 goals disallowed by VAR and every time you could see, he was blaming himself for the VAR decision and had a look of "well that was my only chance of scoring". On that goalscoring run last season, he looked like a different man. I think that it's fair to say he's a confidence player, at least as to his finishing. His pressing, his hold up play, and the other things he does are fairly consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponky Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 I don't think Ollie is going to have any issues playing with Diaby whatsoever if Diaby keeps serving chances up on a platter for him like that cutback yesterday Ollie fluffed yesterday. Yes it was a bit frustrating but to me Ollie looked like he was only going at about 80%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinebro Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 It's facinating how different we see games. I thought Ollie looked very good. We got noticably weakened once he came off. Ollie and Martinez would the first 2 names on my team sheet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villan_of_oz Posted July 31, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) 6 hours ago, DCJonah said: Callum Wilson is very good and scored a good amount of goals. The other 2 are bit part players not their main senior striker. I will disagree with you. Watkins has better stats than Wilson since Wilson joined Newcastle. Wilson only scored 3 more goals than him last season. Weghorst was Manure's only striker and Nketiah played over half the season as the main striker. No one player will decide whether we make Europe or not. Ollie haters gonna hate, no matter what he does Edited July 31, 2023 by Villan_of_oz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villa87 Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 1 hour ago, Pinebro said: It's facinating how different we see games. I thought Ollie looked very good. We got noticably weakened once he came off. Ollie and Martinez would the first 2 names on my team sheet. Should have done better in front of goal, but his hold up and link play were fantastic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted July 31, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) Why on earth would any Villa supporter be surprised that Ollie might be going through a little micro-dip in confidence. Of course he is. He suddenly has really intense potential competition on the squad, and he's going to need some time to get used to the new Villa reality. I think he'll come out of this micro-dip, although I have to say, we're being a bit ridiculous in freaking out about Ollie. It's absurd. Bad day at the office, that's all. Watkins' at times fragile confidence has long been yoked to his feelings about his competition on the Villa squad. When Bailey first came to Villa and scored, I remember so distinctly how Ollie never looked remotely comfortable in celebration scrums with teammates. It was startling. He seemed awkward, like "get me outta here." Like he's trying to act pleased out of politeness but secretly feel like maybe he's not number one any more. No fault in that. No mark on his character. But Ollie's is a lot more competitive than I think many Villa supporters suspect. When it's not him scoring, he feels bad. Lots of great forwards are the same. I imagine Diaby in particular has him a little tensed up. But when you look at the big picture, he's a fantastic striker who has proven himself with Villa. I was an "Ollie sceptic" for a long time last year, but I saw what Emery was able to get out of him, and Emery will provide a supportive and ambitious atmosphere where Ollie and other players will come through their dips in form. I think we're crazy if we don't think that, from time to time, Nervous Ollie is going to appear. It's his nature, and it's part of what also make him great on other days. Edited July 31, 2023 by Marka Ragnos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 1 hour ago, Villan_of_oz said: I will disagree with you. Watkins has better stats than Wilson since Wilson joined Newcastle. Wilson only scored 3 more goals than him last season. Weghorst was Manure's only striker and Nketiah played over half the season as the main striker. No one player will decide whether we make Europe or not. Ollie haters gonna hate, no matter what he does I don't hate him. His all round game was very good yesterday. I'm just not confident he will take enough of the chances to keep us in that top 5. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam2003 Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 8 hours ago, Dillon66 said: He scored 15 last season in spite of his deficiencies This is technically correct I guess in that it is a description of any amount of goals any player has ever scored in any season ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Watkins is a brilliant player. He has so many qualities. He's tall, strong and quick which is key as a threat, he scores goals having double figures per season in his 3 PL seasons. He also plays very well with his back to goal I saw some brilliant touches to control the balls into him and then bringing other players into it. With JJ and Diaby running beyond him who are goal scorers it gives this multitude of threats. Watkins pinning the CBs by standing between them and always being on the edge and his pace threat. He's unquestionably the most important player in our squad along with Martinez. The fact he's insanely fit and durable is another brilliant quality. I think with the added threat and talent around him he'll rise to another level this season. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinebro Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 37 minutes ago, DCJonah said: I don't hate him. His all round game was very good yesterday. I'm just not confident he will take enough of the chances to keep us in that top 5. He doesn't need to score 30 goals. Goals will be spread around. Arsenal had 3 players who hit 15 goals last season. They didn't have a Haaland and yet finished 2nd. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villan_of_oz Posted July 31, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 31, 2023 42 minutes ago, DCJonah said: I don't hate him. His all round game was very good yesterday. I'm just not confident he will take enough of the chances to keep us in that top 5. Apologies for my assumptions, plenty of posts were hating on him so I jumped to conclusions. I still disagree with you but I can see your concerns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thunderball Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Why do we suddenly have a crisis? He scored against Newcastle and was subbed off in the other games as intended? His hold up play and running is important to us, I see his significance to us increasing with the quality alongside him improving. I would be very worried if he left. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Scorpio Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Watkins overall game is excellent. His finishing can be up and down based on his confidence. It's worth noting that there is a real dearth of strikers at the moment. Only Haaland is a guaranteed thing in front of goal really. People slagging off Watkins saying he isn't good enough need to wake and up realise, if we want better then: 1 Who is that and would they come? 2 The cost would most likely be the majority of our budget for a window. Yes Watkins isn't perfect but that's why he's here. If he was he would be at a sky team. I challenge anyone saying we need better to make realistic suggestions as to who that player would be, otherwise be quiet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 I don't know if this is an indictment of the state of striking quality in world football today or what, but Watkins is among the very best strikers we could hope to have play for Villa. Put it this way, if we were to sell him, it'd be unbelievably difficult to replace him with someone just as good, let alone improve on him. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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