Ollie Watkins

[eamonn]

Has Toney once apologised to Brentford's fans? I may have missed it but I don't remember any public quote from him expressing any sign of remorse.

There was a feature on Sky just before he came back which seemed to focus on how hard he'd been training in America over the autumn and what a great pro/player/all-round guy he is.

[Risso]

I know that you don't need to 'like' players as such, if they do the business on the pitch. But all the players we have now seem like genuinely nice guys as well as top professionals, whereas even without the betting stuff Toney just comes as an absolute arsehole. I'd hate it if he was anywhere near our team.

[Clark W Griswold]

Probably his best all round performance for Villa today. Was absolutely unplayable.

I get your point but I prefer the performances when he scores.

I'd say I don't care as long as we win. Which then made me look up our record in the league this season when he does score:

He's scored in 14 matches, out of 33 played.

Of the 19 he didn't score in, he got an assist in 5 of them, leaving 14 games he either didn't score or get an assist.

Of the 14 games he scored in, we won 11, drew 2 and lost 1.
Of the 5 games he didn't score but got an assist, we won 3, drew 1 and lost 1.
Of the games where he didn't score or assist, we won 6, drew 3 and lost 5.

All of which shows just how vital he is. When he scores, you can almost guarantee we'll win the game, and when he doesn't but gets an assist, our record is still very good. And all of that is with a defence that hasn't been nearly as good as it was last year. If he can do the same next year and the defence improves with the return of Mings, well, anything's possible.

Thanks Footy ;-)

[Risso]

Please desist with such disgusting filth! Won't somebody think of the children!

[Clark W Griswold]

I know that you don't need to 'like' players as such, if they do the business on the pitch. But all the players we have now seem like genuinely nice guys as well as top professionals, whereas even without the betting stuff Toney just comes as an absolute arsehole. I'd hate it if he was anywhere near our team.

They do. We seem to have an excellent team spirit and anyone with a questionable attitude should not be touched with a barge-pole. I'd sooner give Duran more chances, a player who was rumored to have said questionable attitude but beyond a few small strops when subbed has not been any kind of problem from what i can see.

[Clark W Griswold]

Please desist with such disgusting filth! Won't somebody think of the children!

:-)

[AV84]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Brentford missed Mbueno more this season when he was injured than they missed Toney when he was banned. If I was a club looking for an attacking player in the summer I'd be looking at Wissa or Mbueno before I'd be willing to fork over whatever stupid price they'll want for Toney.

Mbueno is a super player, but isn't Diaby our man in that role?

I'm not saying we should sign any of them. I'm saying if we were a club looking for an attacking player (the kind that are being linked with Toney) I'd be pricing Mbueno and Wissa first.

[Drummond]

That list looks very much like they were comparing the players likely to go to the Euros in the attacking midfielder spots.

They were. Sometimes it feels as though football fans are just looking to be offended

The list states "Goal involvements of English forwards" I can assure you that i am not easily offended. I would expect Ollie to be included in that list.

I'm with you. On Sky the other day they listed "players with top goal involvements in Europe". They didn't list Ollie. Turns out there was an asterisk with "*minimum of 20 goals scored." Yeah, makes perfect sense to list goal involvements and leave out the player with the second most due to setting an arbitrary limit on half of the metric. Twats.

It is bullshit, yes. But he'll correct it before too long.

And they won't quite it any more. Or they will uplift the goals scored to 21,then 22 the.....

[Footy-Vill]

19 goals from an xG of 15.7,
Watkins non-penalty goals minus xG score of +3.3 is the 10th-best in the Premier League and better than all but three of the top 10 goalscorers.
12 assists so far this season from an Expected Assisted Goals of 7.1 - highest xA in league

Top scorers conversion rate percentage
Erling Haaland   24.10
Cole Palmer           33.33
Ollie Watkins           23.75   
Alexander Isak   34.69   
Mohamed Salah   22.67
Dominic Solanke   25.71

[Footy-Vill]

This season at Villa Park in the Prem
Watkins 17 matches 52 shots Scored 9 goals:
2 Headers from 7 headed attempts
3 Right Foot
4 Left Foot

[Footy-Vill]

Watkins puts his form down to performance coach Antonio Rodríguez Saravia, who arrived with Emery from Villarreal.

“I work with him every day [doing] extras out on the training field,”

“Sometimes we don’t even do finishing practice. We may just watch videos and analysis. He is the key for me. He has helped me so much.

“I think I’ve learned a lot in a short space of time: my movement, my mentality, being patient.”

[stevo_st]

I’d love it he managed to get to +30 goals across all competitions. A brace today would be a good start.

[Footy-Vill]

I’d love it he managed to get to +30 goals across all competitions. A brace today would be a good start.

Yes hope so it's fully deserved all his goals and progress!
Score at least one today then he is first player since Peter Withe to score 20+ goals in a top flight campaign.
That's excellent work!

Tammy Abraham hit 25 goals  in 37 matches in the championship
If Watkins hits 25 league goals he'll be the first Villa player since Andy Gray to do so in the top division

[Footy-Vill]

Today is up there with the best performances from a Villa striker, without scoring.

Best striker we’ve had in the last 30 years? Different style to Yorke, but you could make an argument he is better.

Based on this season, he’s the best I’ve seen since I started going in 88, other than Yorke. Might need a couple more seasons at the same standard to better him though.
He was great today, didn’t seem to be getting enough support first 35-40 mins but still did ok. Once we got on the front foot he was unplayable.

I reckon Benteke at his best for us was still better than Watkins at his best for us.

It's just that we saw the best of Benteke probably 40% of the time, whereas for the last eighteen months we've seen Watkins at his best 85% of the time.

For those completely in the know of the whole Premier League era can it be said given Watkins consistency and goal scoring exploits is he the greatest Premier League era striker and goal scorer that you have seen and has played for Villa?? No one is better ?
In that conversation would be previous consistent top scorers Benteke, Agbonlahor, Bent, Carew , Angel, Dublin, Yorke and Saunders.

I would argue : Not only the best Premier League era striker but Watkins now have to be recognised as number one of the last 100 years . I don't have all the knowledge, but he's the best consistent Aston Villa goalscorer in last 100 years of our proud history. That's in all here of our lifetime?

What's the take of any former Villa striker who is ahead of Watkins ? because from my research he's going to be if not already the greatest ever in last 100 years.

[Footy-Vill]

Now has 25 in all comps this season, puts him top alongside Yorke in the Premier League era.

Great but preferred Yorke.

What does Watkins have to do in your view to be the best Prem era striker that you have seen ?