Ollie Watkins

[Hookeysmith]

Back to his wasteful worst yesterday

missed 2 sitters (well chances a decent striker should be getting) and a very good half chance.

Only place in the team (2nd GK apart) where we need to improve on - not sure we will this window though which is a shame.

Get a top striker in and it would be the best window we have had - probably ever

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm too lazy to check for sure but at a guess over the last 3 seasons the only players to have scored more PL goals than Ollie are Kane, Son and Salah. It's easy for us to want better, but probably not that easy to find a player that actually is.

[ChicagoLion]

I'm too lazy to check for sure but at a guess over the last 3 seasons the only players to have scored more PL goals than Ollie are Kane, Son and Salah. It's easy for us to want better, but probably not that easy to find a player that actually is.

There seems to be a dearth of centre forwards, Manure are paying silly money for someone with a handful of games to replace Van Carthorse, Chelsea don't have one and you could argue that Arsenal don't either, so better than Watkins is a pretty tall order.
I just hope that Archer is the answer but that is far from a certainty.

[OCD]

You would think he would get more chances this season and with Emery's coaching, he should still get better.

[paul_e]

I'm too lazy to check for sure but at a guess over the last 3 seasons the only players to have scored more PL goals than Ollie are Kane, Son and Salah. It's easy for us to want better, but probably not that easy to find a player that actually is.

That's about where I am with it. I'm all for us giving it a go and bringing another forward in if Emery wants to but I don't think it would be easy to find someone to genuinely challenge for his place.

[Risso]

Why is three years important though? Watkins has averaged c.13-14 goals a season in that time, and the fact that he's been here 3 years isn't all that important. Toney has outscored him the last two years, and got the magical twenty in the league this season just gone. Obviously he was in the Championship the year before that, so he can only directly compare for two years. Ollie is an average 15 goals a season striker, and I can't see him being anything more than that. He's just too inconsistent in front of goal, being equally capable of a great shot, or a complete mishit. That might be enough for where we want to be depending on goals from other players, but I suspect it might not be.

[pauliewalnuts]

Watkins is decent, but he's at times really frustrating because you see how much better he could be.

Not really comparing the two, and I suspect we look at him with rose tinted glasses now, but John Carew, despite being brilliant for us, had it in his locker to be much better still.

As Woodhall pointed at many times back in the day, though, if he'd managed to produce regularly what he was capable of, he wouldn't have been playing for us in the first place.

[PeterWithesShin]

I used 3 years as that's how long he's been a PL player. So comparing him to his peers in that time seems logical.

[Brend'Watkins]

Yesterday's game was a microcosm of Ollie's time at Villa.  Worked hard, linked up well with Diaby and missed two really good chances. The first, too heavy a touch and the ball evades his finish, the 2nd, lovely ball into his path and he skys it over the bar.  Were there others?  His return in numbers is respectable and just maybe if he added another 8 or 10 to his totals we'd have many others looking at him as more than an option.

[PeterWithesShin]

To be an upgrade on Ollie and justify the significant amount it would cost you'd need someone that averages 17+ league goals and also has his other attributes. I'm not saying Ollie is perfect, but that upgrade isn't easy to find. Clubs higher up the food than us these last 2 or 3 years have spent a fortune trying, and mostly failing. to find that player.

[Risso]

I used 3 years as that's how long he's been a PL player. So comparing him to his peers in that time seems logical.

Well it show's that he's consistent and rarely injured. But it misses facts like Ivan Toney has outscored him in the last two years, or that Callum Wilson has scored almost the same number of goals in 25% fewer games.

[PeterWithesShin]

I used 3 years as that's how long he's been a PL player. So comparing him to his peers in that time seems logical.

Well it show's that he's consistent and rarely injured. But it misses facts like Ivan Toney has outscored him in the last two years, or that Callum Wilson has scored almost the same number of goals in 25% fewer games.

Ollie had a year of Gerrard in that time, so it all evens out.

[Risso]

Fair point. The friendly yesterday just showed Watkins in a nutshell though. Lots of hard work and good play for the team. Three presentable chances, and he fluffed them all horribly. Now in a league game, he might take one of those, but then again, he very much might not.

[danno]

His record in the league under Emery is just slightly better than one in two. (13 goals from 24 apps) there’s no reason why he can’t better 15 this time out.

That’s before you consider that our new signings might make us more effective at producing chances for him.

[PeterWithesShin]

It's goals from other areas we need more than anything. Watkins getting 15 is fine, as long as more from elsewhere. We need Archer and Duran to do more than the 6 Ings got. Bert and Traore got 6 between them, add Diaby to them and you'd be hoping for more. SJM got 1, which is a bit crap. JJ and Doug 6 each, Buendia 5, at least match that. And that's it, no one else scored more than 1 last season. A few from defenders at set pieces would be nice. Coutinho with a few, and you're starting to be at the goals total that will have you at the top end of the table.