Ollie Watkins

[Smirker]

Bloody love Ollie. Works his arse off every game, deserved his goal. We have two genuinely world class forwards for the first time since, well early eighties I suppose.

The only world class player we have is Martinez.

Ollie and Duran aren't close. Come on.

Which centre forwards would you swap either of them for?

I reckon there's maybe three or four. At best.

Salah
Kane
Lewandowski
Lautaro Martínez
Gyokeres
Haaland
Isak

Easily.

Salah isn't a centre forward. And while he's obviously still a good player, swapping either for a 36 year old would be utterly daft.

So "three or four" is actually five.

You said forward, and it's semantics anyway as Salah spearheads his team's attacks.

You can praise Watkins, but thinking he and Duran are world class is too far.

I'd take Vlahovic and Osimhen also.

[Ian.]

Hang the bastard

Or c*n* as some would say

[Olneythelonely]

Bloody love Ollie. Works his arse off every game, deserved his goal. We have two genuinely world class forwards for the first time since, well early eighties I suppose.

The only world class player we have is Martinez.

Ollie and Duran aren't close. Come on.

Which centre forwards would you swap either of them for?

I reckon there's maybe three or four. At best.

Salah
Kane
Lewandowski
Lautaro Martínez
Gyokeres
Haaland
Isak

Easily.

Salah isn't a centre forward. And while he's obviously still a good player, swapping either for a 36 year old would be utterly daft.

So "three or four" is actually five.

You said forward,

He didn’t. It’s still there.

[Smirker]

So it is. I take that bit back then. But as said, semantics anyway.

[VillaTim]

I don't even remember the "simple" chance. I saw Haaland miss a one on one today before turning off when Man City scored. Assume Man City will be looking to get rid of the useless twat and the new contract is a smokescreen.

Arsenal played a throw-in to him. He only had the keeper to beat.

Exactly and as per my post , Watkins in a nutshell , he misses some big chances yes , but then he does something sublime like his goal yesterday (wasn't an easy volley) , and his workrate overall is phenomenal. My post is a complimentary one . Doesn't mean his miss from the Partey throw wasn't a poor attempt , he missed my miles when a simple lob wedge over the keeper and we're 1 up . That's Watkins in a nutshell though.

[usav]

Haaland misses a ton of chances, but City also create far more than we do - so not really a fair comparison.

Watkins has some frustrating moments and he shouldn't be exempt from criticism.

[AV84]

Not sure if I posted this before because I've been thinking about it for a while but..... I wonder if our terrible defence has a bit to do with how Watkins is being viewed lately? Like if he misses a sitter at 0-0 it's a shame but so what, but the fact we're so often behind from early on, his misses seem much worse?

[brontebilly]

Not sure if I posted this before because I've been thinking about it for a while but..... I wonder if our terrible defence has a bit to do with how Watkins is being viewed lately? Like if he misses a sitter at 0-0 it's a shame but so what, but the fact we're so often behind from early on, his misses seem much worse?

His miss at 0-0 v Everton was shocking really. Every forward is going to miss sitters, Salah has missed 11 penalties in his career for example (source - internet!) but Ollie does seem to miss more sitters than most. But his game is a lot more than just goal scoring so we need to take that into account.

For that one yesterday it was a poor effort, that was one he could have taken down as I think it was Rogers who was on the move near him. But would hardly be in the top 10 of his misses this season.

[VillaTim]

If Watkins was more clinical we'd be top 2 possibly top . That's not a criticism as his overall game blends in much more .

[pauliewalnuts]

If Watkins was more clinical we'd be top 2 possibly top . That's not a criticism as his overall game blends in much more .

If Watkins was more clinical, he'd also almost certainly not be playing for us anymore. Sadly.

[edgysatsuma89]

So it is. I take that bit back then. But as said, semantics anyway.

It's not really semantics when they play in different positions. Edited.

[FatSam]

I was just watching the replay of our first goal yesterday on Villa’s official Twitter. As Tielemans picks the ball out of the net, Ollie deliberately goes to Gabriel and gives him a little push a says something to him that he reacts to. Presumably Gabriel had been giving him some stick beforehand. Even better that Ollie went on to get the equaliser.

[Smirker]

So it is. I take that bit back then. But as said, semantics anyway.

It's not really semantics when they play in different positions. Edited.

No they don't. They are both the focal points of the team's attacks.

[tomd2103]

Not sure if I posted this before because I've been thinking about it for a while but..... I wonder if our terrible defence has a bit to do with how Watkins is being viewed lately? Like if he misses a sitter at 0-0 it's a shame but so what, but the fact we're so often behind from early on, his misses seem much worse?

His miss at 0-0 v Everton was shocking really. Every forward is going to miss sitters, Salah has missed 11 penalties in his career for example (source - internet!) but Ollie does seem to miss more sitters than most. But his game is a lot more than just goal scoring so we need to take that into account.

For that one yesterday it was a poor effort, that was one he could have taken down as I think it was Rogers who was on the move near him. But would hardly be in the top 10 of his misses this season.

Like most players, he goes on runs of poor and good form, and has been like that since he has been with us really.  What I notice about him when he is in good form is that when he goes through on goal, his touch sets him up really well for the finish.  When he's not in form, his touch can be a bit loose and it makes chances a lot more difficult (he ends up being on his left foot quite often in those situations).

I think he's been great for us overall though.

[Dave]

I'm not hating on the man, and I'm not reluctant to share the gratitude I feel for his efforts. But he should have scored a goal that he balloned yesterday.

But if we're going on "should", he probably shouldn't have scored the really good goal that his movement, instinct and technique meant that he actually did score.