Ollie Watkins

[Percy McCarthy]

A lot less due to the striker change at 65 mins. Last season, he didn't last the full 90 mins in 5 games last season, with three of those being in the first four. This season there has only been three where he did the full 90.

This season he is on a goal every 160mins, for the whole of last season it was 170mins.

Great stat.

[Risso]

He's on 7 goals, the same as Cunha for Wolves. Behind Salah, Palmer, Haaland, Mbuemo, Jackson, Wood and Wissa. 1 ahead of Vardy, Strand Larsen, Delap, Isak, Johnson and Wellbeack.

[Olneythelonely]

Higher than you’d expect a shit striker to be. Again.

[Risso]

It's decent, but the fact he's on similar numbers to Wood, Wissa, Wellbeck and Delap doesn't really back up the "impossible to replace" theory.

[Drummond]

I haven't got the stats either, but I'd wager a fair proportion of his goals have come later in games, when he's already got the opposition tired (mentally if not physically) from chasing him about.

[Risso]

I haven't got the stats either, but I'd wager a fair proportion of his goals have come later in games, when he's already got the opposition tired (mentally if not physically) from chasing him about.

I wouldn't have thought so this season, because he's been subbed quite often. In fact, of his 7 goals:

4 first half
2 45-60 mins
1 70+ mins

[Somniloquism]

Last season, he scored over half his prem total in the last 30* mins with 10 after 61mins onwards. Whether that was down to defenders tiredness or due to other changes made (Diaby/Bailey swap?) would be hard to tell.

*Although longer due to additional time at the end of the game obvs.

[Drummond]

Sorry, I did mean last season and as such I wonder whether that would have made him more effective this..

[PaulWinch again]

Hope he’s not injured, he led the line well in the first half.

[Smithy]

It's decent, but the fact he's on similar numbers to Wood, Wissa, Wellbeck and Delap doesn't really back up the "impossible to replace" theory.

Ollie isn't having a bad season, he's actually doing slightly better than last season in terms of 'minutes per goal', what he suffers from right now is the fact we have someone behind him chomping at the bit, and who is performing well when called upon.  Last season, during Ollie's off games, or when he had a bad miss, we could shake them off as "well, he's still scoring plenty, getting assists, and he works bloody hard for the team", whereas this year we're left thinking "Duran probably scores that".

For comparison, here are some of the names mentioned as Ollie's "peers" in goalscoring terms.  This is their "minutes per goal" for the season so far, i.e. how long on average they are on the pitch before they score a goal:

Salah 94 mins
Wissa 99 mins
Haaland 104 mins
Wood 115 mins
Palmer 118 mins
Jackson 139 mins
Mbueno 149 mins
Ollie 159 mins
Isak 176 mins
Cunha 178 mins
Vardy 190 mins
Delap 192 mins

And then…

Duran 81 mins

Now, Duran's sample size is much smaller, he's played less than half the minutes of everyone in that list, but it's clear he's going to become more important in our first eleven - whether that's as a starter in the short term, or just getting a bit longer each game until that happens, it's definitely happening.  If Duran got the assists, or created chances like Ollie, he's probably be starting already.

[Smithy]

Hope he’s not injured, he led the line well in the first half.

He had a cut/graze on his knee, I noticed shortly before half time, so it might just have been precautionary, i.e. he was always coming off after 65 mins, so they brought it forward 20 minutes.

[Risso]

I think there's more pressure on Ollie this year, due to players like Bailey not scoring, so his misses are amplified more.

[Dave]

I think there's more pressure on Ollie this year, due to players like Bailey not scoring, so his misses are amplified more.

But when you look at the last fifteen minutes from Saturday, maybe part of the reason other players aren't scoring more is also a bit down to Ollie - I reckon last season's Ollie would have given McGinn and Rogers two of the easiest tap-ins imaginable rather than ballsing it up both times.

[Risso]

I think there's more pressure on Ollie this year, due to players like Bailey not scoring, so his misses are amplified more.

But when you look at the last fifteen minutes from Saturday, maybe part of the reason other players aren't scoring more is also a bit down to Ollie - I reckon last season's Ollie would have given McGinn and Rogers two of the easiest tap-ins imaginable rather than ballsing it up both times.

Yes, that as well. Saturday though, was easily the worst he's played since Unai's been here, didn't do a single thing right. He was better last night.

[Dave]

His decision making was a bit off, but I reckon that's a stretch. At least he was involved, making the right runs, getting into good positions from where he could make a terrible final decision.

I'm sure we've had games where he's touched the ball a dozen times across the whole match.