Ollie Watkins

[PaulWinch again]

Let’s be absolutely honest…..apart from his goal he was awful today

I thought the last 30 minutes he was excellent, he was just what we needed to get us over the line in a tough fixture.

Yep and look at external view - on MOTD they highlighted his goal as reward for his performance. He makes mistakes, but his overall play is so important to making our forward play function. Plus his scoring rate has been excellent since the end of the year - being negative about him after a big win, where he scored, is just plain weird.

[Ozzjim]

He worked like a dog yesterday, and deserved a goal simply due to the volume he got through, but for the first hour almost everything he was involved in going forward broke down with him. Around 60 minutes onwards though, he got better and better. His shot forced the corner that resulted in the move for his goal, his run into the back post was excellent and he deserved it. During the game though, a couple of mates and I sent numerous messages expressing frustration with him. It was a microcosm of Ollie in the last 18 months really, couldn’t pass to a team mate, ball bouncing off him, shooting straight at the keeper (he seems to love to shoot directly at the keeper), but not letting his head drop, still working to get the ball, closing, pressing and fighting for the ball, resulting in him getting a goal. If Tammy can do the latter part anywhere near as well, and be sharper in general play he will get lots of minutes. As much as he frustrates me, and I firmly believe we can find a player to do what he does and score more, he is a very, very difficult player to replace.

[RamboandBruno]

It's moaning, it's negative and it's obsessive.

Even if this were true, are negative posts not allowed then?

We are all, or most of us negative here and there. You know thats not the case on this thread though, your obsessive about how bad you think Watkins is, to the point where you as an individual have completely dominated the discussion on and direction of this thread for months.
The obsession is now seeping into other threads, like the post match thread yesterday. I just don’t understand after our first win up there for twenty fooking years, when said player actually scored, you would feel the need to start pushing the agenda again, like its a perfectly reasonable response to a statement win in a statement few days for the team, in what is looking like a statement season and one most of us have either never seen the like of, or at least not seen the like of for a generation.

[ChicagoLion]

He worked like a dog yesterday, and deserved a goal simply due to the volume he got through, but for the first hour almost everything he was involved in going forward broke down with him. Around 60 minutes onwards though, he got better and better. His shot forced the corner that resulted in the move for his goal, his run into the back post was excellent and he deserved it. During the game though, a couple of mates and I sent numerous messages expressing frustration with him. It was a microcosm of Ollie in the last 18 months really, couldn’t pass to a team mate, ball bouncing off him, shooting straight at the keeper (he seems to love to shoot directly at the keeper), but not letting his head drop, still working to get the ball, closing, pressing and fighting for the ball, resulting in him getting a goal. If Tammy can do the latter part anywhere near as well, and be sharper in general play he will get lots of minutes. As much as he frustrates me, and I firmly believe we can find a player to do what he does and score more, he is a very, very difficult player to replace.

This is a fair summary.
His inability sometimes to do what seems like simple things is allways going to frustrate, but he did work like a dog and a great finish to win the game.

[SamTheMouse]

I think one of his most underrated qualities is his sheer indestructibility.

The guy runs his socks off and fights like a cat in a sack with Premier League defenders week in, week out, yet hardly ever misses a game through injury.

Of course, I've just jinxed him and apologise in advance for the career-ending pancreatic rupture he will now sustain in the next match.

[Ian.]

All these lack of qualities that get mentioned with Ollie, I wonder if around the country, other fans bemoan this with their own strikers. Ollie’s not far behind Thiago, I think has more than Mateta, Wissa, Woltemade, must be similar to Welbeck and DCL. Then we’ve got the Arsenal forwards, Pedro or Raul. I’m not having a go here at anyone, as believe me as much as I love Olive, I get it, he can be frustrating to say the least. But I’m talking about all these strikers, with the exception of the Arsenal lot, cost or are worth similar fees.

I guess we’ll see when Tammy plays, who’s probably in the same bracket as most of the above, if we are still having similar conversations.

[Ozzjim]

All these lack of qualities that get mentioned with Ollie, I wonder if around the country, other fans bemoan this with their own strikers. Ollie’s not far behind Thiago, I think has more than Mateta, Wissa, Woltemade, must be similar to Welbeck and DCL. Then we’ve got the Arsenal forwards, Pedro or Raul. I’m not having a go here at anyone, as believe me as much as I love Olive, I get it, he can be frustrating to say the least. But I’m talking about all these strikers, with the exception of the Arsenal lot, cost or are worth similar fees.

I guess we’ll see when Tammy plays, who’s probably in the same bracket as most of the above, if we are still having similar conversations.

Almost certainly. You would not pay £50m for Wissa or £70m for Woltemade to replace him. Each of those strikers are different, and each of them are not in a team setup and managed by Unai. Thiago couldn’t do the running that Ollie does for sure, Joao Pedro works very hard at Chelsea in fairness to him, but misses a lot of chances too. Palace fans think Mateta is way too wasteful and would happily let him go for the right fee, so for sure, strikers frustrate. For us, having a genuine competitor can only be a good thing.

[Clampy]

I said on a whatsapp group yesterday that I thought he was our weak link then he goes and scores. He wasnt great but he kept persisting and killed the game for us which helped see the win out. He's not perfect and you can see him get frustrated when things don't come off for him but he must be a nightmare to defend against, especially in later stages of the game.

[Ozzjim]

I said on a whatsapp group yesterday that I thought he was our weak link then he goes and scores. He wasnt great but he kept persisting and killed the game for us which helped see the win out. He's not perfect and you can see him get frustrated when things don't come off for him but he must be a nightmare to defend against, especially in later stages of the game.

I do wonder how much Emery will now simply rotate the 2 of Abraham and Watkins, even in game, just to keep the freshest set of legs on in the dying stages, which is where Villa often find teams starting to wilt

[Chris Smith]

I said on a whatsapp group yesterday that I thought he was our weak link then he goes and scores. He wasnt great but he kept persisting and killed the game for us which helped see the win out. He's not perfect and you can see him get frustrated when things don't come off for him but he must be a nightmare to defend against, especially in later stages of the game.

I do wonder how much Emery will now simply rotate the 2 of Abraham and Watkins, even in game, just to keep the freshest set of legs on in the dying stages, which is where Villa often find teams starting to wilt

Yep, I’m expecting to see a lot of that.

[enigma]

I said on a whatsapp group yesterday that I thought he was our weak link then he goes and scores. He wasnt great but he kept persisting and killed the game for us which helped see the win out. He's not perfect and you can see him get frustrated when things don't come off for him but he must be a nightmare to defend against, especially in later stages of the game.

I do wonder how much Emery will now simply rotate the 2 of Abraham and Watkins, even in game, just to keep the freshest set of legs on in the dying stages, which is where Villa often find teams starting to wilt

Ollie will hate that. Gonna have to get used to it though

[martin o`who??]

Ollies workmate is phenomenal and he has never hidden, never caused us a scrap of trouble and his attitude seems first class. He has given our club a lot over the years and I've got his back any time. I fully agree he should be rotated and needs healthy competition which is good for him and good for us. Even though I was sat in my living room no-one shouted louder than me when he netted yesterday.

[andyh]

I’d rather have him playing for us than against us.

[LeeB]

Having another option gives him a break, a chance to be at his best when he is starting, and gives us another weapon to hurt teams with after we've had them chasing shadows for an hour.

I might also add that as much as he appears at times to be playing wearing somebody else's clogs, he's pretty bloody good with his bonce, in fact I'd say he's one of the best around in that respect.

[Smithy]

I’d rather have him playing for us than against us.

And that, right there is the crux of it. 

We as fans tend to hyper-fixate on the things he gets wrong, because he's OUR centre-forward.  I'm sure we all collectively groaned at the terrible pass he made for Sancho when a simple lay-off into his path would have given Sancho a free shot from about 15 yards out - but we're also not the ones groaning when he's pulled the centre-halves out of position AGAIN, creating space for others.  We're not the ones groaning when he's not giving the centre halves a moment's peace and forcing them into rushed decisions.  We're not the ones groaning when he's spinning in behind when Rogers is running towards the back four.

AND he scored.  I think that's 7 in his last 10 league games now?

We have to learn to accept what Ollie is, and how he plays - and stop complaining about the player he isn't, and never will be. That player doesn't exist.

Will he miss chances other top forwards might score? Yes. Will suddenly be able to thread a pass like Youri? No.  Does he have other strengths that contribute to our overall team performance? Absolutely, he does.

If we can find another forward who works as hard, makes the type of runs Ollie does, and is a better finisher and passer, then great - let's replace him with THAT player.  But I doubt that player is in our budget for another year or two.  When we can get him - whoever he may be - then great!

However, I genuinely think some fans seriously underestimate the things we'll miss about him when he finally moves on. Frustrating, yes, but an absolute nightmare if he's playing against you.