Ollie Watkins

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

7 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Any replays of him and Grealish having a chat over the pen?

Looked like Jack said no initially?

I would much prefer Jack taking them personally, but glad Watkins is keen if he is going to be the #1 taker.

Gregg Evans said on 1874 that Jack took the ball, put it on the spot and then had an apparent change of heart and let Watkins have it.
 

You can tell Jack is very aware of his own stats thesedays and wants as many goals and assists as he can get. He went to 4 goals and 4 assists already yesterday. After Harry Kane, Jack and McGinn have the 2nd most assists in the league at the moment with 4 each. I think it was the right thing to give up the penalty to Watkins; he needed that boost of another goal to keep him ticking over. Plus Jack missed his last penalty at Brammall Lane last season.

[tonyh29]

Another striker seeming to be ruined by our system .

 

There is a good player in there , energetic , skillful and with a good footballing brain  ..isolating him up front chasing hoofs from Mings isn't really utilising him  .. maybe switch him out wide and play Davis through the middle to mix things up a bit  , he seems quite dangerous when running at defenders

[Demitri_C]

3 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Another striker seeming to be ruined by our system .

 

There is a good player in there , energetic , skillful and with a good footballing brain  ..isolating him up front chasing hoofs from Mings isn't really utilising him  .. maybe switch him out wide and play Davis through the middle to mix things up a bit  , he seems quite dangerous when running at defenders

Thata what i was thinking last night. I think once wes comes back this might be the plan going forward. 

Although trez did really well yesterday 

[Mister_a]

I think once our other forward players stop sniffing their farts and decide to put early balls into him, we might get something out of him.

Jack is dallying on the ball too much for my liking at the moment, and it is hindering the rest of the team. I know he scores goals and dribbles and all that, but it's not all about Jack and he needs to be told that.

Saying that, we seem to be generally crap at attacking quickly.

He (Ollie) gets into good positions, but by the time the ball comes anywhere near him the defence have had 30 seconds notice, as we are fannying around with the ball too much to get it to him when it matters.

Edited November 2, 2020 by Mister_a
Clarification

[sidcow]

16 hours ago, Genie said:

He seems anonymous for large period which is worrying. The stats cloud his contribution in a way. 
In comparison to Keinan he seemed to have far more opportunities to score, but his finishing is awful. Watkins just seems to vanish. The crosses aren’t finding him and he’s not making things happen for himself either. 
This isn’t writing him off because he’s clearly a quality player. He and and his teammates just need to find a way to get the most out of his skill set.

But how could he get involved? There were no balls being played through to him. 

There were long balls over the top to his head where we was completely isolated. 

There were no decent crosses into him. 

Seriously, what do you expect him to do? 

He did run the channel's when he had a chance to which was about the only option available to him. 

[AntrimBlack]

A pity Traore got injured. Watkins on the wing and Traore centre I suspect might be a better option than Davis.

[AntrimBlack]

 I like Watkins. He is not the problem. The guys behind him are the problem. Also Smith needed to make changes to strengthen the midfield.

[TRO]

8 hours ago, MaVilla said:

We were having the exact same discussions early last season about wesley being isolated and needing to get players closer to him.

Amazingly when we got players closer to him (Burnley), he had a good game. (then he got injured)

I agree with your point and we don't seem to learn.

yes we was....thats why,I don't think Wesley is that bad

No we don't.

It was interesting to read that the players thought that there was something tactical going on with Southampton and said so at half time.....Dean disagreed and said it wasa second ball affair in midfield.

[TRO]

5 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

 I like Watkins. He is not the problem. The guys behind him are the problem. Also Smith needed to make changes to strengthen the midfield.

In January he needs to sign some midfielders who can stay on the ball and not get knocked around so easy.....Luiz's challenge on Walcott was lazy and half hearted, it was not the challenge of a determined DM , fired up in his game......He is not playing like he did after lockdown.

we need a young up and coming whelan type, who can play and has some energy/Athleticism.

Edited November 2, 2020 by TRO

[MaVilla]

6 minutes ago, TRO said:

 

It was interesting to read that the players thought that there was something tactical going on with Southampton and said so at half time.....Dean disagreed and said it wasa second ball affair in midfield.

Thats very interesting, I wonder what the players thought was going on.

 

 

[MaVilla]

4 minutes ago, TRO said:

In January he needs to sign some midfielders who can stay on the ball and not get knocked around so easy.....Luiz's challenge on Walcott was lazy and half hearted, it was no the challenge of a determined DM , fired up in his game......He is not playing like he did after lockdown.

Yeah.

How i see us right now is that we are a pretty side who can play when other teams let us play.

When teams get in our faces we don't like it.

We need some steel.

We are a very good team full of soft flowers that wilt under real pressure.

We need to be a very good team that also does the dirty stuff and fights for every ball.

[TRO]

48 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

Thats very interesting, I wonder what the players thought was going on.

 

 

I have no idea.....except to say, I think Dean is right.

[TRO]

49 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

Yeah.

How i see us right now is that we are a pretty side who can play when other teams let us play.

When teams get in our faces we don't like it.

We need some steel.

We are a very good team full of soft flowers that wilt under real pressure.

We need to be a very good team that also does the dirty stuff and fights for every ball.

would you mind if I framed that and put it on the wall in the dressing room.....and then posted it a 1,000 times on here....and send it to the Birmingham Mail.

Its bloody spot on....right to the very heart of it.

Edited November 2, 2020 by TRO

[TRO]

9 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

Thata what i was thinking last night. I think once wes comes back this might be the plan going forward. 

Although trez did really well yesterday 

He frustrates me in the art of wing play.....but he is a game individual, something we lack at times.

He has also twigged that the back post is a good breeding ground for goals....he was unlucky with the header.

Edited November 2, 2020 by TRO

[villaglint]

1 hour ago, MaVilla said:

Thats very interesting, I wonder what the players thought was going on.

 

 

We were certainly getting outnumbered in the centre of the park. Walcott and Armstrong tucked in whenever they had the ball to make a four in the centre. With the full backs pushing on it meant we were hugely outnumbered even with a supposed three in the middle. Really turned out to be McGinn sitting deep with Luiz and then Barkley pushed on. 

I find it very hard to believe that Smith doesn't see that as well. 

Our game is to drive through the centre and then find wings (basically Jack) in pockets of space. McGinn and Barkley had no space to drive into in first half because of the numbers Southampton committed there. We never really reacted to it tactically but the quality in our play went up several notches after we'd gone 4-0 down.  

[TRO]

2 minutes ago, villaglint said:

We were certainly getting outnumbered in the centre of the park. Walcott and Armstrong tucked in whenever they had the ball to make a four in the centre. With the full backs pushing on it meant we were hugely outnumbered even with a supposed three in the middle. Really turned out to be McGinn sitting deep with Luiz and then Barkley pushed on. 

I find it very hard to believe that Smith doesn't see that as well. 

Our game is to drive through the centre and then find wings (basically Jack) in pockets of space. McGinn and Barkley had no space to drive into in first half because of the numbers Southampton committed there. We never really reacted to it tactically but the quality in our play went up several notches after we'd gone 4-0 down.  

I wonder why?

The other feature to consider in the last 2 games, whenever we are in a duel, in most cases they come out with the ball, is it more conviction, determination, athletisim, skill, physical endurance.....who knows?.....but it happens, too many times.

[AntrimBlack]

52 minutes ago, TRO said:

I wonder why?

The other feature to consider in the last 2 games, whenever we are in a duel, in most cases they come out with the ball, is it more conviction, determination, athletisim, skill, physical endurance.....who knows?.....but it happens, too many times.

A will to win.

[VillaChris]

11 hours ago, sidcow said:

But how could he get involved? There were no balls being played through to him. 

There were long balls over the top to his head where we was completely isolated. 

There were no decent crosses into him. 

Seriously, what do you expect him to do? 

He did run the channel's when he had a chance to which was about the only option available to him. 

Drop a bit wider (unless DS was ordering him to stay central) and get on the ball and find space that way (worked for the penalty when he nearly scored beforehand).

People always seem to fall over themselves to make excuses for our forwards but it's a bit odd to me when Grealish was one of the best chance creators in all the major european leagues last season.

You say the crossing was poor but Jack laid one perfectly onto Mings head for our first goal so Ollie just has to read them better (will have to watch his Brentford goals again last season to see how many were headers from crosses).

How did Tammy score so much for us with the same midfield options behind him? I know it was a weaker level but I'm pretty confident he'd have got 10-15 for us last season if he'd signed permanently.

[tinker]

13 hours ago, VillaChris said:

How did Tammy score so much for us with the same midfield options behind him? I know it was a weaker level but I'm pretty confident he'd have got 10-15 for us last season if he'd signed permanently.

How many will Ollie score for us this season, looks like around ,4 in 6 games so hes on target for ,15-20 goals.

Ollie still learning and it will take him and us a few games to understand what it takes for us to play for his strengths but judging him from our last couple of games is very harsh , we was very poor in midfield and offered no quality.

[MotoMkali]

13 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Drop a bit wider (unless DS was ordering him to stay central) and get on the ball and find space that way (worked for the penalty when he nearly scored beforehand).

People always seem to fall over themselves to make excuses for our forwards but it's a bit odd to me when Grealish was one of the best chance creators in all the major european leagues last season.

You say the crossing was poor but Jack laid one perfectly onto Mings head for our first goal so Ollie just has to read them better (will have to watch his Brentford goals again last season to see how many were headers from crosses).

How did Tammy score so much for us with the same midfield options behind him? I know it was a weaker level but I'm pretty confident he'd have got 10-15 for us last season if he'd signed permanently.

Ah yes because mcginn, grealish and hourihane compared to championship teams is sooo much weaker than Luiz, McGinn and barkley compared to Premier league teams. Oh no wait, championship teams are crap and tat just scored trom loads of loose balls in the box. He is probably the best in the league at that (or maybe second to Kane)