Ollie Watkins

[rodders0223]

14 hours ago, Panto_Villan said:

This is interesting to me because it implies that maybe Watkins was overdoing it previously - trying to be everywhere all the time, because that's basically what set him apart from other strikers.

It seems like Emery is encouraging him to be a bit more selective about when he goes chasing players / the ball and it certainly seems to have paid off in terms of his goalscoring.

But couldn't we all see that. Man was picking up the ball on the halfway line constantly or on the left wing with his support glued to our defensive third and he'd get shit for not bagging goals.

 

Ran around like an absolute dog in a shit system with no support then gets pelters for not being Pele.

[thunderball]

Brilliant today. He is developing under Emery.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

Absolutely fantastic performance from Watkins, some hard player that Koulibaly.

Watkins was a threat all game and the finish was sublime.

Watkins is one of three players to have hit double figures for goals in each of the last three PL seasons along with Kane and Salah. 

[Adam2003]

15 hours ago, Woody1000 said:

Even as a Watkins ‘supporter’ or whatever other label you would use, it is fair to say that his output had dropped off. No need for anything smug or any “I told you so’s”, let’s just enjoy that OUR striker is scoring regularly as well as leading the line for us while we are in great form. Unai Emery has took Ollie’s game to another level.

Obviously no need for “I told you so” BUT I would counter this slightly in that my biggest frustration is when one of our players - Watkins, Konsa, McGinn - goes through a bad spell, we read so much on here about how they are shit, not good enough, a Championship player, can’t finish etc. I think there would be far less “I told you so” when they do well if people could be more rational and accept they will sometimes play badly, sometimes for a longer period of time, but it doesn’t mean they are shit players we need to bomb out. Especially as you say with a coach like Emery who will improve them.

Watkins will have another dry spell at some point and I really hope that when he does a few more people remember this is a guy who is clearly a good PL striker.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Adam2003

[Steero113]

15 hours ago, KAZZAM said:

Southgate will call him up next set of England games and then  claim he's improved him or he's improved while being at St George's. 

 

 

That tosswobbler wouldn’t call up his dying gran if she played for Villa. 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Steero113

[Tom13]

13 minutes ago, Steero113 said:

That tosswobbler wouldn’t call up his dying gran if she played for Villa. 

Because she'd be in the squad if she didn't play for us?

[bannedfromHandV]

I was baying for him to chip Kepa on that first opportunity he had, I think he was going to but bottled it and ended up screwing the ball wide.

Took the second opportunity with aplomb though and worked his socks off again.

That stat re him being the 4th highest scorer in the PL over the past few years or something - I wonder what his market value is.

[ThunderPower_14]

2 hours ago, Tom13 said:

Because she'd be in the squad if she didn't play for us?

If she was on Man City's bench she'd have 50 caps

[WHY]

1 hour ago, bannedfromHandV said:

I was baying for him to chip Kepa on that first opportunity he had, I think he was going to but bottled it and ended up screwing the ball wide.

Took the second opportunity with aplomb though and worked his socks off again.

That stat re him being the 4th highest scorer in the PL over the past few years or something - I wonder what his market value is.

First one I thought he should have taken earlier Kepa was in a horrible position, he had half the goal to hit, this is where I think he got caught in 2 minds. 

Edited April 2, 2023 by WHY

[MrBlack]

19 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

Anyone got a gif or a clip of that outrageous bit of skill in the 2nd half today?

 

15 hours ago, WHY said:

Scroll up, it’s about 10 posts up mate. 

It has been disabled....would like to see it too 

[bobzy]

22 hours ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Watkins is one of three players to have hit double figures for goals in each of the last three PL seasons along with Kane and Salah. 

…and he’s only played as a “striker” for 4 seasons in his career; obviously 3 of those seasons being the first time he’s played in the Premier League.

He’s a better-than-1-in-3 goalscorer off the back of that and chips in with a fair few assists, but also holds up play to bring the midfield up the pitch.

Arguably the most underrated player in the league. 

[Steero113]

12 minutes ago, bobzy said:

…and he’s only played as a “striker” for 4 seasons in his career; obviously 3 of those seasons being the first time he’s played in the Premier League.

He’s a better-than-1-in-3 goalscorer off the back of that and chips in with a fair few assists, but also holds up play to bring the midfield up the pitch.

Arguably the most underrated player in the league. 

Watkins is massively rated by other fan bases. 

I'd argue that Douglas Luiz is the most underrated player at Villa, and one of the most underrated in the league. The guy holds the team together. 

[bobzy]

7 minutes ago, Steero113 said:

Watkins is massively rated by other fan bases. 

I'd argue that Douglas Luiz is the most underrated player at Villa, and one of the most underrated in the league. The guy holds the team together. 

I don’t look at other forums really, so happy to along with that (Luiz certainly not mentioned much generally). 

[gwi1890]

20 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

I was baying for him to chip Kepa on that first opportunity he had, I think he was going to but bottled it and ended up screwing the ball wide.

Took the second opportunity with aplomb though and worked his socks off again.

That stat re him being the 4th highest scorer in the PL over the past few years or something - I wonder what his market value is.

£50m-£60m easy 

[david-avfc]

Great that he’s proving the doubters wrong. I don’t think he is a “natural” top quality finisher but he works so hard and offers a lot and in the right system he’s good enough to score regular goals as we’re seeing. As a relatively inexperienced centre forward I’m sure he’s learning a hell of a lot tactically about how to be effective from Unai and it looks like he’s really stepped up his game already. I can’t imagine he got any of proper training from Gerrard.

The only worry I had about Emery was whether the players would buy into his very specific methods.. I think the improvement from Watkins and a few others are showing they’ve all bought into his approach and are now improving as players because of it.

[MWARLEY2]

46 minutes ago, gwi1890 said:

£50m-£60m easy 

West Ham enquired last summer and the rumours were we said 80 mill  . They went and bought Sciammacca for 40 instead.

[romavillan]

Tireless worker, quick, strong, got great feet too. What's not to like? When he wasn't scoring he was still pulling defences around and pressing like a total nutter for 90 minutes. 

I think he can still improve too, his movement and first touch for the miss when he got through very early in the game were incredible. In a side that creates enough chances for him he's a 20 goal a season striker at this level if he can keep this form up or better for 38 games.

[Mazrim]

Watkins is a difficult one to fully judge at the moment. Harsh perhaps, but he misses too many easy 1 on 1s. But his overall game in the kind of form is great, and as a lone striker he works his arse off and causes so many problems. Do we get another top guy in or not?
 

[est1874]

3 minutes ago, Mazrim said:

Watkins is a difficult one to fully judge at the moment. Harsh perhaps, but he misses too many easy 1 on 1s. But his overall game in the kind of form is great, and as a lone striker he works his arse off and causes so many problems. Do we get another top guy in or not?
 

I think Ollie has improved leaps and bounds with this backroom staff, they are clearly coaching the team differently and it's really helping not just our all-around game but Ollie's individual game. I've never seen him a skill player but he is so much more confident and capable on the ball now.

As you say Mazrim, he has missed rakes of 1-on-1s in the past which is not a great trait for a striker, but if he could change that part of his game, he'd be one of the best forwards in the league.

Still think we probably do need another top striker in during the summer though. 

[Tom13]

28 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Tireless worker, quick, strong, got great feet too. What's not to like? When he wasn't scoring he was still pulling defences around and pressing like a total nutter for 90 minutes. 

I think he can still improve too, his movement and first touch for the miss when he got through very early in the game were incredible. In a side that creates enough chances for him he's a 20 goal a season striker at this level if he can keep this form up or better for 38 games.

Everyone knows I think Ollie has weaknesses in his game. He has no doubt improved in recent weeks and been a proper threat. As I've said before, his energy and determination will always be a benefit. There were a few sloppy passes against Chelsea in buildup play though where he gave it away cheaply. So yeah he can certainly keep improving.

Superb finish for the goal though.