Ollie Watkins

[PaulWinch again]

Wincing watching his post-match interview. Seems to all be about him rather than the team. I understand you want players who want to play every game, but he seems to think he has a divine right to start every game.

Blimey.

[LukeJames]

I think listening to that interview with Sky he's leaving at the end of the season as he said he's got 5 games to beat Gabbys record

Probably just a throw away commenting meaning he wants to beat it before the end of the season.

[PeterWithesShin]

I much prefer players that are happy sitting on the bench for a few games in a row.

[PeterWithesShin]

[supertom]

Gets on my chebs the amount of criticism Ollie still gets. Not so much on here (but he still gets too much). Facebook in particular (yeah, I know, it's FB, and probably some covert noses, but still), He's irreplaceable. If people think we can do better with a mythical (proven) 20 goal a season striker, I don't know what to tell you. They're not really out there. You'll struggle to name ten from the top leagues in Europe who've scored 20 in 2 consecutive seasons in the past 3 years. Of those, many don't even play the same position as Ollie and of these 20 goal beasts, you've got several 30-somethings (which defeats the purpose of finding a long-term replacement). And again, who's gonna come to us? Most are on comfortably over 200k a month.

What we'd lose in selling Watkins, and the risk associated with buying a replacement, just isn't worth what we might gain in war chest funds. It's not like selling Douglas, knowing we had Youri and Bouba. He is absolutely irreplaceable. It's the assists he provides, too, the running, the work rate, the movement (which creates space for others even if he's not directly assisting or scoring). We are not going to have a better forward than Watkins for years after he's gone, I'm telling you. Not even close. You want the once-in-a-generation front man? We have him already. 

Honestly, I will be gutted if we sell Ollie in the summer. Players are not unaware of the negativity online either. He's gonna be our record PL goalscorer and still be criticised for not being good enough.

[badminton]

Could you imagine Maatsen coming out after the game and talking like that?

Watkins referenced that because he'd contributed to Villa's success over the past few seasons he deserved more than 20 mins against PSG. What?

He happened to be on his worst home goalscoring drought since 2022 before today. Maybe that's why he hadn't been starting every game along with the fact there are legitimate alternatives who might happen to be better suited to the opponent or in better form.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Wincing watching his post-match interview. Seems to all be about him rather than the team. I understand you want players who want to play every game, but he seems to think he has a divine right to start every game.

He's a striker. It's a different mentality to the other positions, they feed off scoring goals.

[Villan82]

I love Ollie.

But I do not appreciate a Villa player airing dirty linen in public when we are on the cusp of one of our best seasons in 40 years.

[PeterWithesShin]

I don't see anything wrong with what he said, better than some boring robot spouting pre-written answers and he wasn't disrespectful to anyone

https://x.com/SkySportsPL/status/1913668733907673521

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Could you imagine Maatsen coming out after the game and talking like that?

Watkins referenced that because he'd contributed to Villa's success over the past few seasons he deserved more than 20 mins against PSG. What?

He happened to be on his worst home goalscoring drought since 2022 before today. Maybe that's why he hadn't been starting every game along with the fact there are legitimate alternatives who might happen to be better suited to the opponent or in better form.

I'd stick to the racket sport if I were you.
I want hungry players in my team. We've had so many on a cushy number down the Villa over the years including the guy Ollie is currently tied with. Still you continue to "wince" over a tv interview instead of celebrating our record goalscorer.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Gets on my chebs the amount of criticism Ollie still gets. Not so much on here (but he still gets too much). Facebook in particular (yeah, I know, it's FB, and probably some covert noses, but still), He's irreplaceable. If people think we can do better with a mythical (proven) 20 goal a season striker, I don't know what to tell you. They're not really out there. You'll struggle to name ten from the top leagues in Europe who've scored 20 in 2 consecutive seasons in the past 3 years. Of those, many don't even play the same position as Ollie and of these 20 goal beasts, you've got several 30-somethings (which defeats the purpose of finding a long-term replacement). And again, who's gonna come to us? Most are on comfortably over 200k a month.

What we'd lose in selling Watkins, and the risk associated with buying a replacement, just isn't worth what we might gain in war chest funds. It's not like selling Douglas, knowing we had Youri and Bouba. He is absolutely irreplaceable. It's the assists he provides, too, the running, the work rate, the movement (which creates space for others even if he's not directly assisting or scoring). We are not going to have a better forward than Watkins for years after he's gone, I'm telling you. Not even close. You want the once-in-a-generation front man? We have him already. 

Honestly, I will be gutted if we sell Ollie in the summer. Players are not unaware of the negativity online either. He's gonna be our record PL goalscorer and still be criticised for not being good enough.

Well said!

[PaulWinch again]

I don't see anything wrong with what he said, better than some boring robot spouting pre-written answers and he wasn't disrespectful to anyone

https://x.com/SkySportsPL/status/1913668733907673521

No exactly. He was honest, and most importantly look how he reacted in terms of performance.

[wince]

Could you imagine Maatsen coming out after the game and talking like that?

Watkins referenced that because he'd contributed to Villa's success over the past few seasons he deserved more than 20 mins against PSG. What?

He happened to be on his worst home goalscoring drought since 2022 before today. Maybe that's why he hadn't been starting every game along with the fact there are legitimate alternatives who might happen to be better suited to the opponent or in better form.

I'd stick to the racket sport if I were you.
I want hungry players in my team. We've had so many on a cushy number down the Villa over the years including the guy Ollie is currently tied with. Still you continue to "wince" over a tv interview instead of celebrating our record goalscorer.

Leave me out of it 😉

[LukeJames]

Could you imagine Maatsen coming out after the game and talking like that?

Watkins referenced that because he'd contributed to Villa's success over the past few seasons he deserved more than 20 mins against PSG. What?

He happened to be on his worst home goalscoring drought since 2022 before today. Maybe that's why he hadn't been starting every game along with the fact there are legitimate alternatives who might happen to be better suited to the opponent or in better form.

We had years of players happy to sit on the bench and participate in banter rather than play and it was absolutely shit.

[Lucky Eddie]

They can say whatever they like and I hope this one betters the previous record for historical reasons but ultimately; whatever our current Manager says, wants and does will do for me above anything.