The Ollie Watkins Thread | Page 80 | Vital Football

The Ollie Watkins Thread

tarzan said:
Davis works hard. I believe IF fit he would be better than Watkins. Big if though.
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What’s interesting about Davies is that if we are playing with Coutinho plus one other (Buendía) as inside forwards, numbers 10s or whatever, i think that the number one skill needed from our striker is ball retention, which is not Ollies forte.

this would not be such a problem if he scored more goals perhaps, but his hold up and lay off play isn’t good enough regardless.

Davis is potentially (repeat potentially) very useful in that regard

Edit: I still believe however that regardless we should be looking to bring someone with real quality in if we can get them
 
If we could somehow merge Ollie, Davis and Ings we'd have something approaching the perfect striker. Ollies pace and Work rate. The strength and hold up play of Davis. The nous and finishing of Ings.

If course knowing our luck we'd end up with the finishing of Davis, technique of Ollie and pace of Ings.
 
JW1985 said:
If we could somehow merge Ollie, Davis and Ings we'd have something approaching the perfect striker. Ollies pace and Work rate. The strength and hold up play of Davis. The nous and finishing of Ings.

If course knowing our luck we'd end up with the finishing of Davis, technique of Ollie and pace of Ings.
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I think Ollie having pace is a myth.
 
I saw an interview with McGinn and Ramsey, who said Ollie was one of the fastest just behind Bailey I think.

That’s great, if you have the footballing brain to use it. Ollie looks like he needs a second to read the game, before he can then use it. When we sit deep and play a launch ball counter into a corner he can show it a bit, but I don’t think he ever really gets into top gear for whatever reason.
 
Villan57 said:
no, but they are not described as being quick either, apparently Watkins is quick. I've never seen it. He runs about a lot but I' never think he's quick
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So you're only quick if you have Gabby level pace, the quickest I've ever seen on a football pitch before he bulked up too much.

If you've never seen Ollie beat anyone for pace then you've not been paying attention.
 
JW1985 said:
So you're only quick if you have Gabby level pace, the quickest I've ever seen on a football pitch before he bulked up too much.

If you've never seen Ollie beat anyone for pace then you've not been paying attention.
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Nope he's never had me out of my seat as Gabby used to when he first broke onto the scene, Every time Daley got the ball the seats were clanking but not Watkins, what I'm saying is his main attribute is supposed to be speed and I don't see it
 
Pangloss said:
I always thought Gabby was pretty shite for the most part and Watkins reminds me of him in some ways.
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I'd say they were very similar players in fairness. Have a role to play in a balanced team but both aren't quite naturally goalscorers as they always daftly take the extra touch and lose the advantage. It's something Ollie could still correct.

But both are very much too much time = horrific miss.
 
Will he ever achieve 20 goals a season ? Possibly but he needs to improve. He wasn't fit going into the season, then the baby came along. Hoping for a better season in 22/23
 
Dumble said:
What’s interesting about Davies is that if we are playing with Coutinho plus one other (Buendía) as inside forwards, numbers 10s or whatever, i think that the number one skill needed from our striker is ball retention, which is not Ollies forte.

this would not be such a problem if he scored more goals perhaps, but his hold up and lay off play isn’t good enough regardless.

Davis is potentially (repeat potentially) very useful in that regard

Edit: I still believe however that regardless we should be looking to bring someone with real quality in if we can get them
Click to expand...

We simply have to get someone better in - it's little wonder our possession stats are always so bad, 9/10 it just pings off Watkins and we're on the backfoot again - he's just not up to it at this level, assuming this level means top 8.
 
JW1985 said:
So you're only quick if you have Gabby level pace, the quickest I've ever seen on a football pitch before he bulked up too much.

If you've never seen Ollie beat anyone for pace then you've not been paying attention.
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Dalian Atkinson is the quickest player I've ever seen at Villa Park.
 
Bonker said:
We simply have to get someone better in - it's little wonder our possession stats are always so bad, 9/10 it just pings off Watkins and we're on the backfoot again - he's just not up to it at this level, assuming this level means top 8.
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In fairness one thing that stood out to me in the Man City game was referenced by others.

When Ollie did take control (and I'd say he should've done above a 50% chance), he had no one to lay off to other than going really deep and whilst he waited for an option, he then lost the ball.

We had forward runners and support mostly on total 50/50's or times where I'd be amazed if he got control or got the flick on.

It's still something he needs to improve on yes, but he's also taking a fair bit of stick when he's given no support.
 
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