Ollie Watkins

[andyh]

He looks utterly jaded to me.
A goal will go a long way to helping him, but I doubt he will get a rest during the international break coming up after the Leicester game.

[Brend'Watkins]

He had two easy chances that last season he would have buried. He’s not his usual self.

[Demitri_C]

The argument is that we’re trying to play him back to match fitness, that only works if we are winning

But he only gets back to match fitness by playing him

Having said that the first miss was nothing to do with fitness it was just a rubbish shot
I could’ve put it in with my knob and it isn’t even that big

You can play him...as a sub. Duran looks alot fitter than him at the moment.  Given duran 60 mins then unleash ollie for final 30 mins or so. This is probably best way to build him up. He has awful both games so starting him seems to be asking alot of him at the moment

[kippaxvilla2]

Maybe his sudden increased exposure to the limelight is having an effect.

[Allan C]

I'm not too worried about him. We've seen him go through patches like this before and he's always come good.

The problem with the goalless patches is, like yesterday, we loose points and invariably league position. We can’t afford to miss chances like that and still expect to be challenging for top 4

[Clampy]

I'm not too worried about him. We've seen him go through patches like this before and he's always come good.

The problem with the goalless patches is, like yesterday, we loose points and invariably league position. We can’t afford to miss chances like that and still expect to be challenging for top 4

True but we can't just rely on him either. Others have to and hopefully will chip in.

[brontebilly]

He looks utterly jaded to me.
A goal will go a long way to helping him, but I doubt he will get a rest during the international break coming up after the Leicester game.

How could he be jaded? 3 sub appearances over the summer. Needs a mini pre season, everything is miles off at the moment. Duran should start next game.

[Monty]

He looks utterly jaded to me.
A goal will go a long way to helping him, but I doubt he will get a rest during the international break coming up after the Leicester game.

How could he be jaded? 3 sub appearances over the summer. Needs a mini pre season, everything is miles off at the moment. Duran should start next game.

He's the opposite of jaded - he's undercooked. If you cook a striker for too long he turns into jade, but he's a long way from that.

Not sure about starting Duran though. I can certainly see the argument, but also I can imagine how annoyed Watkins must be, and he's the kind of player to turn that annoyance into goals against a team like Leicester.

[Ads]

Yeah he's way off it at the moment. Watching the highlights again...we should have been two up and clear. He's traditionally a slow starter for us mind.

[john e]

It’s not just 2 games though is it
He was a sightseer the last half a dozen games of last season when he needed just 1 goal to hit the magic 20 mark

[Ads]

Think that's a bit harsh. His goal against the Dutch was world class. We were just utterly goosed all over in the last few games. He's a quality player, but always seems to take until mid-September to find the net.

[kippaxvilla2]

Very much like Haaland in that respect.

[PeterWithesShin]

[VillaTim]

Not playing preseason was weird . And he now looks sluggish and low on confidence.

[andyh]

It’s almost like  the emotion of that THAT goal, and the subsequent attention has had an effect on him.

He needs a goal.