I love Ollie. I think there's something about his personality that I really like. He's just not like most footballers (also why I love McGinn and Mings). I think he just really comes across as a good guy, and I always want to see people like that do well for us (and why I had no time for people like Terry and Gerrard). So I will always try to defend him (it helps that he's scored more goals for us than anyone else I've seen live - it's not like being a nice guy is all he's got). He worked really hard to get to the level he's achieved. Playing in the Champions League, scoring the winner in the semi final of the Euros, being the greatest club in the world's top Premier League goalscorer - 10 years ago, none of that would have seemed possible.
I think, though, his personality/mentality gets in his way. I think he suffers from imposter syndrome (something I have plenty of experience with!). He probably looks at a lot of other players who came through some of the best academies in the country. Their first touch is ingrained, through professional coaching from the age of 6. Sometimes I think when Ollie miscontrols the ball, there's something in his head saying "see, you don't belong here". You can sometimes see the weight of his own thoughts on him, physically. It doesn't take much to knock him, and can take quite a lot to bring him back out again. He's someone that thinks a lot (not an issue many players are burdened with). Those thoughts aren't always helpful.
All of this is conjecture of course - I can't say any of that is a fact. And the reality is that he's not been playing well for quite a while now. It started last season, and he's really struggling to turn it around. The most likely reason for this is that he is playing with a cyst on his knee and it's limiting him. He's playing through some pain - not enough to stop him from playing, but enough to lose a split second of movement. That split second can count for an awful lot. So everything gets harder. And for someone that might struggle mentally when things aren't going well, everything suddenly gets much harder.
I am desperate for him to find some form, and score the goals that mean we qualify for the Champions League - just like he did two years ago. But that is looking less and less likely now. He just doesn't look the same player at all, and the aspects of the game that he has always struggled with are outweighing most of the things that he was always excellent at. It would be hard to justify anyone thinking that we will be basing our forward play on Watkins next year - if we are to keep progressing, we need to spend a shit-ton of money on a new, exciting striker that will lead our line for the next five years. The thing is, for that to happen, we need Ollie to find some kind of form for the rest of the season. Keep battling through the pain, manage his minutes as best as possible, and hope he can get a few crucial goals. One last hurrah.
I'll miss him when he's not playing for us any more. There is room in our club for both the louche gentleman-slackers and the Ollie Watkins' of this world.
