Jhon Durán

[Brazilian Villain]

He looks like he's enjoying his football a lot now, and he seems to have a close bond with the younger lads like Rogers and JJ.

We need some of his close peers to reign him in if he starts losing it about not playing enough,

Maybe the Duke of Cambridge could have a word.

[john e]

He’s already as good as Watkins and he’s only going to improve.

His finishing is at the moment yes.  But is his all-round game? Probably not.  Watkins gives us 7-9 out of 10 for 90 minutes every week, for 50+ games a season.  We've built our success on that type of consistency - Unai bangs on about it in almost every interview.  Would Duran offer that?  Maybe, but it's a hell of a gamble.

So in the five league and cup games he’s started this season you think he’s put in 7-9 out of 10 performances in them all

Possibly not quite, but he did for 50 games last season.  He's seems to be carrying a bit of a knock, he scored twice on Sat and had a perfectly good goal chalked off last night.  I think he's doing ok.

Well therein lies the difference because I think he’s been well below par and I mean well below

[Clampy]

He's not looking quite as sharp as he can be and the knock may be playing a part in that but I thought he was ok last night. Did well for Ramsey's goal, lovely lay off for McGinn''s chance and very unlucky with his disallowed goal. He' ll be fine.

[Risso]

He started the season quite badly, and wasn't even doing stuff he's normally good at like giving their defenders a hard time with his runs. I thought he was back to something like his old self against Everton, and also played well last night. If that goal was allowed to stand as it should have been, we'd have been saying what a good game he'd had.

[olaftab]

Ollie looks like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He is clearly not enjoying his football at the moment. I believe JD’s form is weighing heavily on his mind.

Doesn’t Ollie always look like that when he doesn’t score?

Is this the man who banged two in on Saturday and scored a perfectly good “goal” last night?

[paul_e]

He started the season quite badly, and wasn't even doing stuff he's normally good at like giving their defenders a hard time with his runs. I thought he was back to something like his old self against Everton, and also played well last night. If that goal was allowed to stand as it should have been, we'd have been saying what a good game he'd had.

Yep, he should be on 3 goals and an assist (even if it was ropey), which is very good after 5 games and he's clearly getting better as his fitness improves.

[Somniloquism]

It might be he is missing Luiz slightly. They did seem to have some understanding with the runs he was making being picked out well. Tielemans, whilst a lovely passer probably isn't quiet doing the same ones as Luiz or they don't have the exact wavelength yet. Then he also now has to work without Diaby and currently Bailey as well.

[boozey182]

I love Jhon Durán, but I felt it was noticeable that when he came on, we lost a bit of control in the game. They started to get a lot more possession, we didn't seem to have the same confidence at playing it forward, we had less time on the ball. It was only a spell of 5 or 10 minutes, but I think it highlights the work that Watkins does, even when he's not playing well. He works so hard, making runs in behind, or off the defence, and about 75% are never seen or capitalised on, but it creates space for other (especially Rogers). Durán doesn't do that as much. To be fair, few strikers do. But that is what we need in order to be able to control games, we need that space in the middle of the pitch. Of course, to break the control that they seemed to be gaining, Durán scored an incredible goal - even though it wasn't given, it seemed to reassert our dominance.

Watkins would not have scored any of the goals that Durán has scored this season, on current form. But I don't think we would have been in as strong a position without the work that Watkins had done in each of those games, even though he has been a long way off his best. It seems to be working very well at the moment - get control of the game with Watkins, and then unleash Durán to add something new and cause chaos. While Watkins is misfiring, we need Durán - but I think Durán needs Watkins as well.

Unai said the other day that it's up to him to find a way to be able to play them both - which I imagine will take time, and patience. A quality that Durán may not be blessed with... But if Unai can make that work, even if it's not every week, but from time to time depending on our opponent, then we should (as the kids say) let the man cook.

[eamonn]

I don't know who you sacrifice in midfield/the wings to play with both of them together.

Rogers and JJ are rated very highly by Unai. Tielemans is our Rolls Royce, Onana is needed for his physicality and canny knack of scoring. Maybe Ginny is most at risk but we'd be changing our system considerably to accommodate two strikers. Bailey still has to come back in too.

Could Watkins play on the wing/as an auxiliary forward like in his pre-Villa days? After all the training on him as a centre forward - to keep his positioning "between the width of the goalposts", it would seem like a demotion of sorts.

[Sexual Ealing]

Watkins can't play on the wing at our level.

[VillaTim]

I love Jhon Durán, but I felt it was noticeable that when he came on, we lost a bit of control in the game. They started to get a lot more possession, we didn't seem to have the same confidence at playing it forward, we had less time on the ball. It was only a spell of 5 or 10 minutes, but I think it highlights the work that Watkins does,

yes this is the juggling act Emery has to balance

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I love Jhon Durán, but I felt it was noticeable that when he came on, we lost a bit of control in the game. They started to get a lot more possession, we didn't seem to have the same confidence at playing it forward, we had less time on the ball. It was only a spell of 5 or 10 minutes, but I think it highlights the work that Watkins does, even when he's not playing well.

I take your point Boozey but I put it down to the subs YBs brought on, they started to look a better team. Once Elia got booked he disappeared into his shell and we got to grips with the changes.

I'm not a fan of playing players back to fitness but Watkins is probably the exception. Strikers need their sharpness, it's what defines them together with goals and it's not something you can just get from the training ground. Currently his first touch is still far too loose but providing those around him are delivering, it's something we can live with short term. Hopefully we'll soon see him back to last season's form.

Duran has a natural first touch, it's other areas of his game that need to be developed. It was great to see him last night chasing down the keeper and defenders. Both will be fine and later this year we should have the option of rotating them. If we didn't have Bayern next week I'd love to see both Duran and Watkins together against Wolves. It would be almost cruel.

[OCD]

2 weeks before the Bayern game RCF. Wolves, Wycombe and Ipswich before them.

[N'ZMAV]

that was a class finish last night by Duran. shame the VAR is a bell end.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

2 weeks before the Bayern game RCF. Wolves, Wycombe and Ipswich before them.

Cheers, fella. I've obviously got Champions League fever. So no reason not to set the two together and rip Wolves to pieces? Maybe Ipswich too.. Wycombe we can give the young Scottish lad a run out.