Ollie Watkins

[Exeter 77]

Ollie Watkins being known to be an Arsenal fan = Arsenal are interested in signing Ollie Watkins. That appears to be how certain media outlets work.

[Rigadon]

As a fanbase, we should know that whether a player is a 'fan' of a club means jack shit when it comes to transfers.  Unless they are legs-have-gone-a-bit transfers of course. 

[PeterWithesShin]

Another goal and assist. 5 goals and 5 assists in 9 league games. Only Salah now has more goals/assists this season with 11 (7g 4a).

[brontebilly]

Smoke still coming off the ball after that goal 🚀 To think there was plenty on here that thought he wasn't good enough!

[Smirker]

It's not based on stats though it's based on watching him play.

Even today he missed a sitter.

There are very valid criticisms of his game.

[PeterWithesShin]

Every player misses sitters. Even though it's another game with a goal and assist you criticise him rather than praise him? This season only Salah has more g/a than him. In 2023 only Salah and Haaland do. He's incredibly effective for us, one of the top performing strikers in the country and is a massive part of why we're one of the best sides in the country for nearly a year now, and nearly every side in the country would give their left bollock to have him.

[PaulWinch again]

It's not based on stats though it's based on watching him play.

Even today he missed a sitter.

There are very valid criticisms of his game.

There are no faultless players - you can criticise him if you want, I prefer to look at all the goals he’s scoring, assists he’s providing, and the amount he does for the team.

[danno]

Some finish for his goal today and at a crucial stage in the game.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Some finish for his goal today and at a crucial stage in the game.

Indeed or put another way, who on here thought he was going to thunderfuck the ball on the near post for his goal? I know for a fact I didn't. He's far from a top footballer but give him a ball to chase and there's few better.

[AV82EC]

I thought he’d missed it at first then realised it had gone in!!! Superb finish and he’s lethal when the game gets stretched.

[Smithy]

Every player misses sitters. Even though it's another game with a goal and assist you criticise him rather than praise him? This season only Salah has more g/a than him. In 2023 only Salah and Haaland do. He's incredibly effective for us, one of the top performing strikers in the country and is a massive part of why we're one of the best sides in the country for nearly a year now, and nearly every side in the country would give their left bollock to have him.

I know there are people on here who hate stats with a passion, but 'expected goals' is a really good way of telling whether a player misses a lot of sitters.  If their expected goals is much higher than actual goals, then yes, they miss sitters.

So far this season Ollie has 0.13 more goals than expected (five goals vs xG of 4.87).   Those aren't the stats of a man who misses a lot of 'sitters'. 

For reference, Haaland has 0.14 more goals than expected, and Salah has 0.02 more goals than expected.  So he's right in the ball-park with his peers.

[AV84]

Ollie Watkins has been directly involved in 27 goals across his 33 appearances in the Premier League since Unai Emery’s first game in charge (18 goals, 9 assists).

Only Mohamed Salah (35) and Erling Haaland (33) have contributed to more goals in this time.

[Smirker]

Every player misses sitters. Even though it's another game with a goal and assist you criticise him rather than praise him? This season only Salah has more g/a than him. In 2023 only Salah and Haaland do. He's incredibly effective for us, one of the top performing strikers in the country and is a massive part of why we're one of the best sides in the country for nearly a year now, and nearly every side in the country would give their left bollock to have him.

Its not me criticising him just defending those who do have criticisms.

[Footy-Vill]

Love Ollie Watkins !
Wouldn't swap him for any striker in the league!
Steps closer to his 20 goal target today.
Shame he doesn't take pens and didn't bury his chance in first half but wow what a goal.
Great to see him and Deano talking after the game . The respect he has for Smith is a delight to see.

[paul_e]

Every player misses sitters. Even though it's another game with a goal and assist you criticise him rather than praise him? This season only Salah has more g/a than him. In 2023 only Salah and Haaland do. He's incredibly effective for us, one of the top performing strikers in the country and is a massive part of why we're one of the best sides in the country for nearly a year now, and nearly every side in the country would give their left bollock to have him.

I know there are people on here who hate stats with a passion, but 'expected goals' is a really good way of telling whether a player misses a lot of sitters.  If their expected goals is much higher than actual goals, then yes, they miss sitters.

So far this season Ollie has 0.13 more goals than expected (five goals vs xG of 4.87).   Those aren't the stats of a man who misses a lot of 'sitters'. 

For reference, Haaland has 0.14 more goals than expected, and Salah has 0.02 more goals than expected.  So he's right in the ball-park with his peers.

For more context, and to use the stat in a way that is much more useful, they rated his missed chance as 0.49 so across the entire database xG is based on that chance is scored less than half of the time (just). This isn't trying to say it was a difficult chance (it was our best other than the penalty) but that we as fans have a habit of overstimating how easy chances are. Xg is most useful in trying to work out how good (or bad) an individual chance really is.