Ollie Watkins

[Sexual Ealing]

Any news on Watkins injury, any one know what is wrong with him?

There isn't an injury.

It's man management from Unai. And before people accuse me of saying that makes him a liar, it is really not uncommon for a manager to say a player is injured when there is something else going on. In Ollie's case he is just in shit form. If he was really injured he wouldn't have been getting picked for 18 months as opposed to getting whatever surgery it is he needs and Tuchel wouldn't have called him up to England and Unai wouldn't have started the season with him as our only striker.

It's a convenient excuse for the Worshippers to hide behind.

This is a very interesting take.  In this version of events, Tuchel decides not to pick Ollie because he's in "shit form".  But rather than deal with the media questions, he decides - with or without Ollie's consent? - to tell the media Ollie is managing an injury, and that's why he left him out.  Because it's "easier", and Tuchel, despite being a top manager, doesn't like having to explain the difficult decisions he has to make.  He prefers fictional injuries he can use as excuses.

The club hears Tuchel's excuse, and thinks - "hang on, what a great excuse! We'll have some of that!".  Again - with or without Ollie's consent - Unai tells the media that Ollie is playing with pain in his knee and they're managing his workload, because only because that is easier than saying he's in "shit form". 

Unai does this because Ollie is different.  Unlike every player Unai has worked with in his 20-year managerial career, where he has been happy to point out when players are not performing, or not following instructions, or simply in bad form - for OLLIE, Unai is willing to lie to the media and the fans.

This convenient lie about a fictional injury will obviously continue until such time as Ollie regains form.  Or we sell him.  A sale which will obviously be at a significant discount, because we've been lying to everyone by telling the media he's managing an injury for the best part of a year, and no one will pay top dollar for a player with a long-term chronic injury.

I can see absolutely zero flaws in this theory.

Honestly, though, I'm starting to understand why the flat earyh society has so many members,

Well no, he could have spoken to Unai beforehand. Players withdraw for fitness reasons from internationals for broken fingernails these days, you think the club would let Ollie be called up with an injury for some nothing games? 😂

In your world, Unai persists playing an injured player who has been injured for 18 months and in two of the three transfer windows that have passed, he decided one injured striker is good enough to compete in multiple competitions. He then decided to keep this injury a secret until this season?

Unai isn't stupid. He's tried to play him into form, he's tried to protect him. It hasn't worked and we'll sign a new striker in January.

Whilst I think it's daft to state categorically that there's no injury (particularly as Tuchel has no reason to give a fuck), the bold bits are reasonable points in my arrogant opinion.

[Brazilian Villain]

Step away from the ice pick, Smirker.

This thread has made my eyes burn.

[Smirker]

Quite. I’m sure Tuchel and Unai are fully on the same page in this conspiracy - problem for Smirker is he wants Ollie to struggle and be finished, so anything that suggests he might be hindered and get back to his best really grinds his gears.

I want Villa to win something. So I understand that with a non-scoring striker it becomes significantly more difficult.

[Tony Daleys Shorts]

Step away from the ice pick, Smirker.

This thread has made my eyes burn.

I wish someone would strangle me.

[Smirker]

Any news on Watkins injury, any one know what is wrong with him?

There isn't an injury.

It's man management from Unai. And before people accuse me of saying that makes him a liar, it is really not uncommon for a manager to say a player is injured when there is something else going on. In Ollie's case he is just in shit form. If he was really injured he wouldn't have been getting picked for 18 months as opposed to getting whatever surgery it is he needs and Tuchel wouldn't have called him up to England and Unai wouldn't have started the season with him as our only striker.

It's a convenient excuse for the Worshippers to hide behind.

This is a very interesting take.  In this version of events, Tuchel decides not to pick Ollie because he's in "shit form".  But rather than deal with the media questions, he decides - with or without Ollie's consent? - to tell the media Ollie is managing an injury, and that's why he left him out.  Because it's "easier", and Tuchel, despite being a top manager, doesn't like having to explain the difficult decisions he has to make.  He prefers fictional injuries he can use as excuses.

The club hears Tuchel's excuse, and thinks - "hang on, what a great excuse! We'll have some of that!".  Again - with or without Ollie's consent - Unai tells the media that Ollie is playing with pain in his knee and they're managing his workload, because only because that is easier than saying he's in "shit form". 

Unai does this because Ollie is different.  Unlike every player Unai has worked with in his 20-year managerial career, where he has been happy to point out when players are not performing, or not following instructions, or simply in bad form - for OLLIE, Unai is willing to lie to the media and the fans.

This convenient lie about a fictional injury will obviously continue until such time as Ollie regains form.  Or we sell him.  A sale which will obviously be at a significant discount, because we've been lying to everyone by telling the media he's managing an injury for the best part of a year, and no one will pay top dollar for a player with a long-term chronic injury.

I can see absolutely zero flaws in this theory.

Honestly, though, I'm starting to understand why the flat earyh society has so many members,

Well no, he could have spoken to Unai beforehand. Players withdraw for fitness reasons from internationals for broken fingernails these days, you think the club would let Ollie be called up with an injury for some nothing games? 😂

In your world, Unai persists playing an injured player who has been injured for 18 months and in two of the three transfer windows that have passed, he decided one injured striker is good enough to compete in multiple competitions. He then decided to keep this injury a secret until this season?

Unai isn't stupid. He's tried to play him into form, he's tried to protect him. It hasn't worked and we'll sign a new striker in January.

Whilst I think it's daft to state categorically that there's no injury (particularly as Tuchel has no reason to give a fuck), the bold bits are reasonable points in my arrogant opinion.

If he's injured, it's something extremely minor that isn't a long term thing. There is no way it's been a problem since the start of the season, never mind the Euros.

We turned down £60m for an injured striker who doesn't score goals 😂 OK.

[brontebilly]

I don't think the injury is so severe it is impacting Watkins performances. If it was Emery wouldn't be playing him. A niggling one that has to be managed sure but that's the case for many players. Ollie is a resilient sort, he rarely misses games.

All I know is once Ollie scored v Brighton, he was moving as well as he ever did. He was outstanding that night. Bullied their centre backs. His second goal that night was brilliant play. Last Sunday, it's a fine run from him that makes McGinn's cross for the first goal. Not sure how he completely missed the ball, mind. But after that he just made a load of unforced errors against really poor centre backs. For a finish he started fouling once he got frustrated before his inevitable and deserved substitution. Lack of confidence is Ollie's main issue right now I reckon, not an injury. He said last season he hates getting taken off and I think you saw a bit of that last Sunday with his frustration in the second half.

My main concern is that when Watkins went off, Malen did more of the same. Coughed up possession needlessly when it should have been easy street for him to expose those centre backs when they pushed up. Can't recall him contributing all that much in Basel either. So back to Ollie starting again at the weekend for me.

[PaulWinch again]

Quite. I’m sure Tuchel and Unai are fully on the same page in this conspiracy - problem for Smirker is he wants Ollie to struggle and be finished, so anything that suggests he might be hindered and get back to his best really grinds his gears.

I want Villa to win something. So I understand that with a non-scoring striker it becomes significantly more difficult.

Maybe you do, but like I said if Ollie has an injury that’s being managed then it’s recoverable. You don’t want to entertain that because you want him to struggle, even if it’s at Villa’s expense. He has been a pretty consistent striker who scores for a number of years, that’s before you get to assists - which I know you don’t really get.

[Gareth]

Any news on Watkins injury, any one know what is wrong with him?

There isn't an injury.

It's man management from Unai. And before people accuse me of saying that makes him a liar, it is really not uncommon for a manager to say a player is injured when there is something else going on. In Ollie's case he is just in shit form. If he was really injured he wouldn't have been getting picked for 18 months as opposed to getting whatever surgery it is he needs and Tuchel wouldn't have called him up to England and Unai wouldn't have started the season with him as our only striker.

It's a convenient excuse for the Worshippers to hide behind.

Different take…Unai and Emery are both liars.

He has clearly been carrying an injury (as many players do) because he wasn’t moving as quickly as normal for months but since the wolves game he has appeared to be moving a lot better

As for ‘shit form’ he absolutely on a shit run goalscoring wise but he is still leading the line pretty well and giving Unai the option to alternate in Ollie with Malen in a side that is winning games.

Personally I’ll happily worship wins and not try to find excuses for those wins…..we are allowed to enjoy success.

[Sexual Ealing]

Any news on Watkins injury, any one know what is wrong with him?

There isn't an injury.

It's man management from Unai. And before people accuse me of saying that makes him a liar, it is really not uncommon for a manager to say a player is injured when there is something else going on. In Ollie's case he is just in shit form. If he was really injured he wouldn't have been getting picked for 18 months as opposed to getting whatever surgery it is he needs and Tuchel wouldn't have called him up to England and Unai wouldn't have started the season with him as our only striker.

It's a convenient excuse for the Worshippers to hide behind.

Different take…Unai and Emery are both liars.

What about Unai Emery?

I reckon all three of them are at it.

[cdbearsfan]

Step away from the ice pick, Smirker.

Smirkers of the world, unite!

We have nothing to lose but our xG.

[Stu]

On an Athletic podcast from last week, Jacob Tanswell said the ‘injury’ is actually a cyst on the knee that can’t be operated on but managed. Painful apparently.