Ollie Watkins

[andrew p long]

A great goal by Ollie tonight in Villa’s home game against West Ham.....and even more importantly scored in front of England manager Gareth Southgate.

Indeed. A pity that his first half curler hit the outside of the post. A few inches to the left and it would have been in, with the keeper nowhere near.

 

[Sexton Blake]

Indeed. A pity that his first half curler hit the outside of the post. A few inches to the left and it would have been in, with the keeper nowhere near.

Yep agreed but hopefully as he has so much more to his game than just being an out and out striker his overall performance will also have made Southgate sit up and take notice.

 

[Trapdoor]

He had a few poor touches unfortunately in that game. But he still looked like the best Villa player.

 

[andrew p long]

He had a few poor touches unfortunately in that game. But he still looked like the best Villa player.

Indeed. A Villa podcast that I watch was full of despair and disappointment. The opening salvo was 'did a single one of our players play well? Ollie Watkins probably yes, but no-one else'

On the England thing (which could be important to us if it is one of the £5m Brentford to Villa add-ons , of which we'd get 15%) I thought his overall performance neither enhanced nor diminished his case for a call up. Good goal, great running, bringing others in etc, his hold up play was excellent at times but not at a consistently high international standard.

 

[jimbo-gould]

He had a few poor touches unfortunately in that game. But he still looked like the best Villa player.

He was very unlucky that two of his poor touches granted possession to West Ham, which they then scored with. Completely the other side of the pitch, so not his fault they scored, but people will still pin blame.

 

[StroudGrecian]

He had a few poor touches unfortunately in that game. But he still looked like the best Villa player.

Even more unfortunate was that two of his poor touches resulted in West Ham goals. Villa midfield and defence missing on both occasions, but his fault the opposition got the ball.

Beaten to it by jimbo!

 

[Sexton Blake]

Two minutes gone and Ollie scores.....12 in all games now.

 

[Banksy]

Ollie the first Villa player to score in three consecutive Premier League matches at Villa Park since Bent in 2011.

 

[John William]

Watkins moves into double figures
Villa climbed above Tottenham and closed to within three points of fifth spot through Watkins' 10th Premier League goal since joining from Brentford for a club record £28m in September.

Three of those goals have been against Arsenal, the 25-year-old scoring two in Villa's 3-0 win at Emirates Stadium in November.

After a barren run of games without a goal between November and January, there are clear signs Watkins is warming to playing at a higher level.

In netting Villa's earliest Premier League goal since 2014, Watkins has four goals in his past five top-flight appearances after Cedric's intended pass to Gabriel was way too short, allowing Traore to nip in and cross for the striker to score.

Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal: Keeper Mat Ryan concedes 74 seconds into Gunners debut - BBC Sport

 

[Egg]

I'm reliably informed Peter Crouch no less described Ollie as 'a manager's dream' and said that 'he must be in the conversation for an England place'.