Ollie Watkins

[IndoMike]

Well done, Ollie.!
You've done everyone proud and needless to say we hope you make the PL for yourself and for us

 

[Hants_red]

Just read that Ollie has been awarded the EFL player of the year.

London Football Award, rather than an EFL wide one.

 

[BerksBee]

Good for us but this award is ridiculously early. If Mitrovic scores shedloads more goals and fires Fulham into the PL but Ollie and Brentford fade away they will look silly.

Not necessarily, but it's a good point.

I suspect the judging criteria goes beyond a simple 'number of goals scored'. Mitrovic and Watkins, although being primarily goal scorers, play slightly different roles. Mitrovic is an old fashioned No 9, centre forward, goal scorer. He doesn't have much else to his game. Watkins is far more versatile and plays more roles—interchanging with the other 2 attacking mids and holding the ball up etc. Our front three hunt as a pack, it's no coincidence that the other front two have 10 goals and 5 assists and 13 goals and 5 assists. Watkins has 22 goals and 3 assists, Mitrovic 23 goals no assists and 2 penalty goals.

That's a long winded way of saying that Watkins plays a larger and wider role than Mitrovic and consequently impacts the game far more than Mitrovic will.

Watkins thoroughly deserved to be London EFL Player of the Year, he's worked very hard this year adapting his game. Also worth pointing out that Thomas Frank was London EFL Manager of the Year.

 

[DB9]

Not necessarily, but it's a good point.

I suspect the judging criteria goes beyond a simple 'number of goals scored'. Mitrovic and Watkins, although being primarily goal scorers, play slightly different roles. Mitrovic is an old fashioned No 9, centre forward, goal scorer. He doesn't have much else to his game. Watkins is far more versatile and plays more roles—interchanging with the other 2 attacking mids and holding the ball up etc. Our front three hunt as a pack, it's no coincidence that the other front two have 10 goals and 5 assists and 13 goals and 5 assists. Watkins has 22 goals and 3 assists, Mitrovic 23 goals no assists and 2 penalty goals.

That's a long winded way of saying that Watkins plays a larger and wider role than Mitrovic and consequently impacts the game far more than Mitrovic will.

Watkins thoroughly deserved to be London EFL Player of the Year, he's worked very hard this year adapting his game. Also worth pointing out that Thomas Frank was London EFL Manager of the Year.

Would Frank stay if you miss out this season or if another club came in for him?

 

[BerksBee]

Also worth mentioning that in his interview after the awards, he mentions that his long term dream is to play for Arsenal one day. So there you go. Top London Prem club—Arsenal it is, they can have him for £80m + add ons!

 

[BerksBee]

Would Frank stay if you miss out this season or if another club came in for him?

Yes, no question. He's a Benham man and fully committed to the Brentford project.

I may have mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning again. One of the reason players, staff, coaches are successful at the club is because of the infrastructure and culture that surrounds them. Take them out of that and they often struggle. Thomas Frank knows and understands this, as well as knowing that we're not a hire and fire club like so many others. There's massive job stability and safety at Brentford and Frank knows this.

At some point he may choose to go back to his native Denmark to manage but his replacement I suspect is already being trained to take over when he does go, his current assistant coach and one club player—Kevin O'Connor.

 

[DB9]

Yes, no question. He's a Benham man and fully committed to the Brentford project.

I may have mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning again. One of the reason players, staff, coaches are successful at the club is because of the infrastructure and culture that surrounds them. Take them out of that and they often struggle. Thomas Frank knows and understands this, as well as knowing that we're not a hire and fire club like so many others. There's massive job stability and safety at Brentford and Frank knows this.

At some point he may choose to go back to his native Denmark to manage but his replacement I suspect is already being trained to take over when he does go, his current assistant coach and one club player—Kevin O'Connor.

That's good to know Berks, Stability is a recipe for success in most cases if both management and owners are on the same wavelength

 

[BerksBee]

That's good to know Berks, Stability is a recipe for success in most cases if both management and owners are on the same wavelength

Yes! We're incredibly lucky to have an owner who fully understands the game and business and has created an environment where staff and players love to come and work.

 

[John William]

Not necessarily, but it's a good point.

I suspect the judging criteria goes beyond a simple 'number of goals scored'. Mitrovic and Watkins, although being primarily goal scorers, play slightly different roles. Mitrovic is an old fashioned No 9, centre forward, goal scorer. He doesn't have much else to his game. Watkins is far more versatile and plays more roles—interchanging with the other 2 attacking mids and holding the ball up etc. Our front three hunt as a pack, it's no coincidence that the other front two have 10 goals and 5 assists and 13 goals and 5 assists. Watkins has 22 goals and 3 assists, Mitrovic 23 goals no assists and 2 penalty goals.

That's a long winded way of saying that Watkins plays a larger and wider role than Mitrovic and consequently impacts the game far more than Mitrovic will.

Watkins thoroughly deserved to be London EFL Player of the Year, he's worked very hard this year adapting his game. Also worth pointing out that Thomas Frank was London EFL Manager of the Year.

All true but as you know I was not dissing Ollie's credentials, just saying the second week in March is ridiculously early to make that judgement. We all hope Ollie will continue to do all the good things he does and Brentford make the playoffs and we hope win them. But it's far from certain, and these awards are generally premature because they are largely marketing exercises and do not actually reflect what their titles say. At the moment Ollie is only the "Player of the first 36 games of the season".

 

[Matt Russell]

All true but as you know I was not dissing Ollie's credentials, just saying the second week in March is ridiculously early to make that judgement. We all hope Ollie will continue to do all the good things he does and Brentford make the playoffs and we hope win them. But it's far from certain, and these awards are generally premature because they are largely marketing exercises and do not actually reflect what their titles say. At the moment Ollie is only the "Player of the first 36 games of the season".

To a lesser degree certainly, but ECFC do the same thing. Awards evening on the penultimate Saturday of the season?