Fulham 1-2 Aston Villa post match pint

[Brazilian Villain]

By the sound of it, I dont think he even realises we won.

If he thinks Ollie was less than perfect yesterday then what about that carthorse Haaland ?

To be fair to Martyn he got a half-and-half Blues/Villa Valentine's card during the week, and he's been a bit out of sorts since.

[Beard82]

I had the Villa TV full replay on this morning while I worked, and I had to laugh when Taylor said something like “can you believe some people knock Ollie Watkins”.

He’s literally the best bloody striker we’ve had in a long time, our third highest scorer in the Premier League in less than four seasons, and on almost 20 goals this campaign with still at least 15 games left to play.

If he ain’t good enough for you, fuck knows what would be, and that’s all your problem, not his.

I was think about this while running today (need to think of engaging things to take my mind of the pain).  I think only dwight yorke and benteke were better in the PL era, certainly for an extended period

[Nelly]

I saw some random info graphic that backed that up, apparently most away goals for Villa is Yorke, Benteke/Saunders and now Watkins.

[Dogtanian]

Obviously I loved Benteke, and he was massively important to us when he was here, but I don't think he was massively better than Watkins.

If we look at their goal stats:

	Games	Goals	Goals / Game	PL Games	PL Goals	PL Goals / Game	Goals / Season	PL Goals / Season
Benteke	101	49	0.49	89	42	0.47	16.33	14.00
Watkins	151	61	0.4	134	53	0.4	15.25	13.25

This table is a little unfair to Watkins, as the current season hasn't finished yet, but he's still not far behind Benteke in goals per season. If he scores five more goals this season, he'll overtake Benteke's average season return.

Benteke's figures are bolstered by his fantastic first season, which he was never able to replicate again in his career. After that, his goals per season (with us) of 13 is on a par with Ollie's and his goals per game of 0.42 is only just above. If you pro-rata this season as being only two thirds gone, Watkins' goals per season comes in at 14.48 anyway.

So while Watkins hasn't yet hit the highs of Benteke's first season, he's definitely keeping up with him overall and across a longer time period.

[lovejoy]

Watkins is playing in a team whoa re 4th whereas Benteke played in a very poor side. Benteke's output is better when you factor that in.

[Dogtanian]

Yet he couldn't do it again for the rest of his career...

Plus, I didn't even go into assists...

[Smithy]

I had the Villa TV full replay on this morning while I worked, and I had to laugh when Taylor said something like “can you believe some people knock Ollie Watkins”.

He’s literally the best bloody striker we’ve had in a long time, our third highest scorer in the Premier League in less than four seasons, and on almost 20 goals this campaign with still at least 15 games left to play.

If he ain’t good enough for you, fuck knows what would be, and that’s all your problem, not his.

I was think about this while running today (need to think of engaging things to take my mind of the pain).  I think only dwight yorke and benteke were better in the PL era, certainly for an extended period

Yorke was about as naturally gifted a forward as we've had. He could do just about everything, while making it all look so easy. And Benteke's record was absolutely incredible, considering his  three seasons here we finished 15th, 15th, and 17th. Imagine how he'd have got on in a side challenging for European football?

Ollie isn't up there with those two, yet, but if he carries on in the way he's played the first 60% of this season, then he certainly will be.  He's clearly not as gifted as those two, but he works incredibly hard to make the most of the talent that he does have.   The fact he's worked himself into a position to be Harry Kane's first-choice back-up for England speaks volumes.  There are probably more gifted English forwards to choose from, but none of them works as hard as Ollie.

[Risso]

Yorke was about as naturally gifted a forward as we've had. He could do just about everything, while making it all look so easy. And Benteke's record was absolutely incredible, considering his  three seasons here we finished 15th, 15th, and 17th. Imagine how he'd have got on in a side challenging for European football?

Ollie isn't up there with those two, yet, but if he carries on in the way he's played the first 60% of this season, then he certainly will be.  He's clearly not as gifted as those two, but he works incredibly hard to make the most of the talent that he does have.   The fact he's worked himself into a position to be Harry Kane's first-choice back-up for England speaks volumes.  There are probably more gifted English forwards to choose from, but none of them works as hard as Ollie.

I'd add in Carew. Injuries and Martin O'Neill being a div stopped him quite getting to the heights he was capable of, but that bloke had everything in his game, and stuck the ball in the net with pleasing regularity.

[eamonn]

And Benteke's record was absolutely incredible, considering his  three seasons here we finished 15th, 15th, and 17th. Imagine how he'd have got on in a side challenging for European football?

At Liverpool, you mean? Not that well!

[RamboandBruno]

And Benteke's record was absolutely incredible, considering his  three seasons here we finished 15th, 15th, and 17th. Imagine how he'd have got on in a side challenging for European football?

At Liverpool, you mean? Not that well!

Yes exactly! I loved Benteke, such an exciting player in such poor Villa sides, but he really never reached those heights when he had the opportunity. Not slating him at all, he kept us up for all those years, but for me as controversial as it might be, Watkins is an all round better player.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Yes exactly! I loved Benteke, such an exciting player in such poor Villa sides, but he really never reached those heights when he had the opportunity. Not slating him at all, he kept us up for all those years, but for me as controversial as it might be, Watkins is an all round better player.

Not even close. Watkins is much more Dean Saunders than Benteke who was pretty much the complete striker for us. In all my years supporting Villa I don't recall a striker that could score so many different types of goals. Power, pace, skill, goals, small ears, he had it all.

[brontebilly]

Yorke was about as naturally gifted a forward as we've had. He could do just about everything, while making it all look so easy. And Benteke's record was absolutely incredible, considering his  three seasons here we finished 15th, 15th, and 17th. Imagine how he'd have got on in a side challenging for European football?

Ollie isn't up there with those two, yet, but if he carries on in the way he's played the first 60% of this season, then he certainly will be.  He's clearly not as gifted as those two, but he works incredibly hard to make the most of the talent that he does have.   The fact he's worked himself into a position to be Harry Kane's first-choice back-up for England speaks volumes.  There are probably more gifted English forwards to choose from, but none of them works as hard as Ollie.

I'd add in Carew. Injuries and Martin O'Neill being a div stopped him quite getting to the heights he was capable of, but that bloke had everything in his game, and stuck the ball in the net with pleasing regularity.

Carew's career was in a tailspin pre Villa so I think MON managed him pretty well to be honest. If he had the graft and dedication of Watkins he would have had some career. His career post MON leaving completely fizzled out.

Watkins isn't particularly brilliant at any facet of his play (the infamous first touch, heading, ball striking etc, Carew had all that) but he's just brilliantly effective as a forward at this level.

[Drummond]

Watkins offers more to the team as a whole.

I reckon prime Benteke in this team would piss off the manager for not following instructions but would still be loved by the fans.

Yorke would be bloody amazing in this team though.

[Smithy]

And Benteke's record was absolutely incredible, considering his  three seasons here we finished 15th, 15th, and 17th. Imagine how he'd have got on in a side challenging for European football?

At Liverpool, you mean? Not that well!

Yes exactly! I loved Benteke, such an exciting player in such poor Villa sides, but he really never reached those heights when he had the opportunity. Not slating him at all, he kept us up for all those years, but for me as controversial as it might be, Watkins is an all round better player.

I would argue that Benteke thrived on being the 'main man'.  The focus of the attack.  He didn't have that at Liverpool.  Klopp came in and brought his 'gugenpressing' style, which didn't suit Benteke at all, and so he spent a lot of time on the bench.  He only played the equivalent of about 15 full league games, which makes his goal record look perfectly reasonable.

I totally agree that the Liverpool move didn't work out, but I don't think it's because he wasn't "up to it" as a player at the top end of the league, but rather a new manager came in and realised he didn't suit the system he wanted to play.  I would argue his demise actually started in his second season at Palace.  Until that point, he was still a force in the Premier League.

[Smithy]

Watkins offers more to the team as a whole.

I reckon prime Benteke in this team would piss off the manager for not following instructions but would still be loved by the fans.

Yorke would be bloody amazing in this team though.

Prime Yorke as an option for the Diaby/Bailey position in the current team would guarantee us top four, and probably a decent title challenge.