18 Feb 2024 17:24:57
Anyone who says Watkins misses too many chances should be shown Haaland's game yesterday and Kane's miss against Bochum today.

Our fans need to remember that because they aren't watching other strikers for the full match every week that they aren't seeing all of their misses.

Ollie is 4th in the golden boot race and is up there with Salah at the top for total goal involvements.

Any fan that thinks we could sign better than that is delusional and it's not exactly going to be easy to find someone near his level that is going to be happy for 10-15 minutes per game plus cup matches considering Ollie just doesn't get injured.

1.) 18 Feb 2024
18 Feb 2024 18:03:54
100% this ☝️ Also, 2 critical points - He's not on penalties like the other "20 goal a season strikers" and he's getting better season on season. The perfect striker for Aston Villa!

2.) 18 Feb 2024
18 Feb 2024 19:34:17
Hope we can hold on to him in the summer, he is a top class striker but he does need some quality backup for games like last week when it’s not going his way

3.) 18 Feb 2024
18 Feb 2024 19:48:19
I guess I’m the one who goes on about Ollie and wanting him to be more clinical so the initial dig was aimed at me I guess. So you can get stats to support most arguments you want, as an example if you go to onefootball.com they rank the players who have missed the most convertible chances this season Ollie ranks as third! Just to be clear it’s not that I don’t rate Ollie I do he is a decent front man, however the likes of City and Liverpool have a 25 to 30 goal a season striker in the squad and they have dominated the premier league over the last few years if we aspire to going to the next level that’s what we need in my view.

In terms of Kane’s miss a question how many goals has he got in the Bundesliga this season? I think you’ll find he has scored 25 goals in 22 appearances the fewest games needed to reach a quarter of a century of goals in the league beating Erling Haaland. I’d settle for return like that

4.) 18 Feb 2024
18 Feb 2024 21:53:35
It was a generalised comment regarding many fans around the Internet. I've kept to my word in not specifically discussing points you make to avoid conflict.
My opinion on missed convertible chances and xg is that there is a large degree of subjectivity in those stats. Ollie definitely misses some glaring opportunities but I feel that on the whole the number of chances and quality of chances are far less than the strikers at the very top clubs.
We aren't going to sign a Kane, Haaland or Lewandowski anytime soon, so I still stand by my original post that nobody can expect us to sign an 'upgrade' when he is up there near the best who would cost £100m+.

5.) 18 Feb 2024
18 Feb 2024 22:16:41
Mings, Liverpool don't have a 25 goal a season striker. Salah plays wide right! Neither do Arsenal. So that just leaves Haaland. All the other teams share the goals amongst the team exactly like we do.

6.) 18 Feb 2024
18 Feb 2024 22:52:31
Stick ollie in that arsenal, Liverpool, City team and he would 25-30 goals a season simple reason he would have better ball coming to him,

7.) 19 Feb 2024
18 Feb 2024 23:17:31
Bucktooth, the point I was making was that City and Liverpool have a 25 goal a season player (admittedly I did say striker) it’s a personal view but I do think if we aspire to break into the top four regularly then that’s what we need. Re Arsenal when did they last win the premier league?

Re spreading the goals around the team ideally I agree but our midfield I don’t think are going to get enough whilst Bailey will get a few the likes of Kamara won’t

8.) 20 Feb 2024
20 Feb 2024 09:15:35
Regarding Watkins, I think one of the most important aspects we need to consider is the fact he is getting better (and some players peak later in their career) - If we are judging Watkins on previous seasons then I agree, he's probably not of the standard we need to regularly compete at the top end of the table BUT this season he is ON TRACK for 20+ goals in the Premierleague, and probably 13-15 assists! He's currently second (behind Kane) for non penalty contributions in Europe's Top 5 leagues, he's 4th (behind Kane, Salah and Mbappe) if penalties are included.

In other words, Watkins in mixing it with the "elite" across Europe this season and has been doing so since Emery arrives - Yes he misses chances but I seriously do not know where we find a better striker than Ollie Watkins, IMO he is the perfect striker for Villa at the moment!