Ollie Watkins

[TopDeck113]

I'm now firmly in the "a season too far" camp.  He's been great at times and been a major contributor to our resurgence as a force in the Premier League.  However, we're now at the level of fine margins (remind yourselves of the margin by we missed out on this season's Champions League) and we need a main striker with a much better conversation rate.

[Mister E]

Let's be honest, we kept him a year longer than we should have. We may get 20 million in summer for him and it will be good for him and us for him to leave in summer. Some great memories, and priceless performances at times but it couldn't last forever, and it hasn't.

I'm coming to this conclusion: he may well go to a promoted side in the summer for - as you say - £20-25m. We then either bring someone else in to back up Abraham or we use Brian as the back-up.

[Sexual Ealing]

Ollie needs to score another 10 from now till end of the season. If he does we will win something and he will be on Tuchel bus to USA.

He needs to be on the bus to the USA to join his new colleagues at the Milwaukee Phlebotomists or the Oklahoma Bailiffs.

[TonyD]

I think he still gives 100% and runs defenders all over the place. 
The issue is his first touch has left him for some reason.

[VILLA MOLE]

H e does not seem as sharp /quick as he was .  He was not really getting in behind Dunk enough last night, however some of that was service 

[Sexual Ealing]

I think he still gives 100% and runs defenders all over the place. 
The issue is his first touch has left him for some reason.

His first touch leaves him every time, and for the same reason.

[TonyD]

I think he still gives 100% and runs defenders all over the place. 
The issue is his first touch has left him for some reason.

His first touch leaves him every time, and for the same reason.

Which is?

[Sexual Ealing]

He can't control a football.

[TonyD]

But he could. 
So what’s happened to him in such a short period of time.

[Sexual Ealing]

If he could, I didn't see it happen.

[German James]

His confidence gave him more ability to control a football. No idea why his confidence left him, but for a good while he seems to have been over-thinking things that should be instinctive to a goal-scorer.

[brontebilly]

I think he still gives 100% and runs defenders all over the place. 
The issue is his first touch has left him for some reason.

To be fair his first touch was never elite. Hold up play and movement were very average last night. Wasn't helped by likes of Buendia, Rogers and Sancho never getting that close to him. If we go long, like we did successfully at Newcastle, he needs to make the ball stick much better and others need to be closer to him. Luiz probably isn't fit enough to push forward there too.

Don't think the pitch helped any attacking player last night, mind. Tammy was worse to be honest.

[TheToffnar]

The whole discourse around him is frustrating at times. He's off it massively, we know what he's capable of and that makes it worse, but so few strikers in the league are performing as it stands. It's symptomatic of how the league has changed the past few years. The traditional all out number 9 is dead for now, Teams are too good defensively to give space away and there's such a reliance on set pieces and screamers, as we well know.

I'm not one of these who'll gun out for him every time he puts in a shit performance, he has to do better. But at the same time we're putting out a second rate midfield who can't split the park with a decent through ball or passage of play. Almost every striker fluffs more chances then they convert, and Ollie does more then most to create chances for other players by stretching the play.

[Sexual Ealing]

The whole discourse around him is frustrating at times. He's off it massively, we know what he's capable of and that makes it worse, but so few strikers in the league are performing as it stands. It's symptomatic of how the league has changed the past few years. The traditional all out number 9 is dead for now, Teams are too good defensively to give space away and there's such a reliance on set pieces and screamers, as we well know.

I'm not one of these who'll gun out for him every time he puts in a shit performance, he has to do better. But at the same time we're putting out a second rate midfield who can't split the park with a decent through ball or passage of play. Almost every striker fluffs more chances then they convert, and Ollie does more then most to create chances for other players by stretching the play.

The missed chances are annoying, and he's guiltier than most. but they happen to everyone, as you point out. He's not frustrating just because he fluffs chances, it's because he so often looks like he doesn't know why he's there, or what he's supposed to do with the sphere approaching him at great speed.

[Monty]

The whole discourse around him is frustrating at times. He's off it massively, we know what he's capable of and that makes it worse, but so few strikers in the league are performing as it stands. It's symptomatic of how the league has changed the past few years. The traditional all out number 9 is dead for now, Teams are too good defensively to give space away and there's such a reliance on set pieces and screamers, as we well know.

I'm not one of these who'll gun out for him every time he puts in a shit performance, he has to do better. But at the same time we're putting out a second rate midfield who can't split the park with a decent through ball or passage of play. Almost every striker fluffs more chances then they convert, and Ollie does more then most to create chances for other players by stretching the play.

The missed chances are annoying, and he's guiltier than most. but they happen to everyone, as you point out. He's not frustrating just because he fluffs chances, it's because he so often looks like he doesn't know why he's there, or what he's supposed to do with the sphere approaching him at great speed.

I wouldn't have agreed with you until this year. It just looks like he's lost something.