Ollie Watkins

[dave shelley]

Watkins and Diaby chances created for each other combined : 17.
The Highest in league! The best in the league.

Just seen that on MOTD2.  They are quite a way ahead of the others as well.with next best being 11.

Yeah, that was quiet a surprising stat given the feeling seems to be that Diary has had a few quiet games,

I'll have to have a Pepys at that later.

[chrisw1]

Watkins has rightly deserved criticism in the past for his finishing.  But he is playing very, very well now.  People are over-sensitised to his misses now, so a bit like a Mings error, every miss gets blown out of proportion.  Watch Haaland and Salah - they both miss chances too.

I was pretty negative about Ollie 12-18 months ago, but he is playing superbly at the moment.  I think anyone who can't see that must have a pretty huge blind spot.

[Drummond]

His first touch recently has been spot on.

[darren woolley]

Ollie was superb yesterday. Some fantastic touches and his finish was sublime.

I totally agree.

[Footy-Vill]

It's always pleasing to see and hear a player themselves talk about football intelligence.
Watkins said in an interview after the match he's worked on things in that respect and you could see in his descriptive language he was showing understanding.

This student is excelling under Emery the professor.

[LeeB]

Ollie was superb yesterday. Some fantastic touches and his finish was sublime.

I totally agree.

There was a touch around the corner into Bailey's path late on that was so delightful it bought 'oohs' and 'aahhs' and I think a lady fainted.

[AV82EC]

Ollie was superb yesterday. Some fantastic touches and his finish was sublime.

I totally agree.

There was a touch around the corner into Bailey's path late on that was so delightful it bought 'oohs' and 'aahhs' and I think a lady fainted.

That was wonderful, I haven’t heard an ooh like that in an age.

[Risso]

Watkins has rightly deserved criticism in the past for his finishing.  But he is playing very, very well now.  People are over-sensitised to his misses now, so a bit like a Mings error, every miss gets blown out of proportion.  Watch Haaland and Salah - they both miss chances too.

I was pretty negative about Ollie 12-18 months ago, but he is playing superbly at the moment.  I think anyone who can't see that must have a pretty huge blind spot.

Sorry, but the miss early on was absolutely criminal, one of the worst you'll see. He more than made up for it with his overall great play and subsequent goal mind, but in tighter (mainly away) games where chances won't be so easy to come by, he's got to be converting those.

[VILLA MOLE]

Ollie was superb yesterday. Some fantastic touches and his finish was sublime.

I totally agree.

There was a touch around the corner into Bailey's path late on that was so delightful it bought 'oohs' and 'aahhs' and I think a lady fainted.

That tickled me

[maidstonevillain]

Ollie was superb yesterday. Some fantastic touches and his finish was sublime.

I totally agree.

There was a touch around the corner into Bailey's path late on that was so delightful it bought 'oohs' and 'aahhs' and I think a lady fainted.

It was "Withesque" I thought.

[Olneythelonely]

His superb touch made that chance a really good one. I think “one of the worst misses you’ll ever see” is a bit hyperbolic.

He doesn’t need to score every chance, not many do. If he keeps giving us performances like that, he’ll continue to be one of the biggest reasons we keep winning football matches.

[Somniloquism]

Sorry, but the miss early on was absolutely criminal, one of the worst you'll see. He more than made up for it with his overall great play and subsequent goal mind, but in tighter (mainly away) games where chances won't be so easy to come by, he's got to be converting those.

paquetta said "hold my beer".

So does Haaland.

[Gareth]

Another very much improved part of Ollie’s game is the work he does defensively on the near post at set pieces…he massively contributes there now.

[paul_e]

BBC have a live Q&A thing with Phil McNulty going on and 1 question on there is this:

Anon: If anything was to happen to Harry Kane before the Euros is Ollie Watkins a natural replacement? He seems to score goals for fun with Villa but never seems to replicate it for England.

I think this is probably something England manager Gareth Southgate does not even want to think about but I do still think Ollie Watkins has to prove he is good enough at international level.

He is, however, a very fine player and is doing his chances no harm – still a bit to prove for England, though. His winner in the friendly against Australia should lift his confidence.

For context Watkins has 3 in 8 and 4 of those were less than 10minutes and there are only 2 starts. This is the biggest problem I have with Southgate. Behind Kane we have Watkins, Wilson, Toney and (unbelievably) Nketiah but he doesn't trust any of them to play in important games so they all look inexperienced and have question marks over them. The only way to fix this is to give 1 or 2 of them some fucking gametime in games that actually matter.

[pablo_picasso]

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.

As someone who has criticised areas of his game, (while highlight & praising the positives too), I will defend my right to hold those concerns.

Those concerns are not the overriding feeling currently, because he is performing to a very high standard.

So while he is still missing a sitter or two, the goals & assists are wracking up & he is currently having a "feast" period for his historical form.

Long may that continue because nobody would love my critical words rammed back down my throat, than I would, when it benefits Villa.

And I want to just add, I only mentioned my critical thoughts here because I don't want to just show up when I feel I am right.

His performance yesterday was fantastic & that should be celebrated... 👍