lexicon Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Just now, jacketspuds said: I would move Watkins up front and have Ings as one of the 10’s playing off him. Ings is more skilful and has a better football brain, but Watkins has an amazing ability to hold the ball up and press from the front. But we've got much better creative options to play there instead of Ings - people who are quicker, more skillful, better passers etc. It's just a waste. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Again, as big as upside from Watkins last season as his goals and assists was his workrate, pressing and defensive contribution. Those things have not been at the same level this season imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Just now, sne said: Again, as big as upside from Watkins last season as his goals and assists was his workrate, pressing and defensive contribution. Those things have not been at the same level this season imo. Because the entire attack is disjointed tbf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 1 minute ago, lexicon said: Because the entire attack is disjointed tbf. Yeah that's part of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Regardless of how he compares to last season he's still been far and away our best attacker this season and as far as the front three is concerned should be the first name on the team sheet as the main striker. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam-AVFC Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 6 minutes ago, useless said: Regardless of how he compares to last season he's still been far and away our best attacker this season and as far as the front three is concerned should be the first name on the team sheet as the main striker. Considering his form that's an issue to solve, not a feather in his cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 His form has been nowhere near as bad as people are making out, a narrative has built up around him suggesting that he's been playing poorly and now people are looking for anything that confirms that narrative and completely ignoring the good that he does in games, exactly the same thing happened to Mings for a while. I bet if one was to rewatch games from last season, the differences in his performances between then and now wouldn't look as different as some imagine, it's just this season people are focusing on the negatives more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 2 minutes ago, useless said: a narrative has built up around him suggesting that he's been playing poorly and now people are looking for anything that confirms that narrative and completely ignoring the good that he does in games, An example of this is the games where both he and Ings have played, Watkins has by far the better game, but because he gets makes a few mistakes, he gets far more criticism than Ings gets, but the reason Ings hasn't made any mistakes as such is because he hasn't been invovled in the game at all to put him in a position to get things wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam-AVFC Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 1 minute ago, useless said: An example of this is the games where both he and Ings have played, Watkins has by far the better game, but because he gets makes a few mistakes, he gets far more criticism than Ings gets, but the reason Ings hasn't made any mistakes as such is because he hasn't been invovled in the game at all to put him in a position to get things wrong. Try reading back a couple of pages on their respective threads. Might shift your perception a bit closer to reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 48 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said: It really isn't that bad of a goal return. Ignoring penalties, Its marginally worse than his return last season. His non-penalty goal return is 270 minutes per goal this season. Last season it was 260 minutes per goal. His always been about a 1 in 3 or so goalscorer. Meanwhile Ings is on less than 1 in 5 without pens. Its a significant difference. It's not goals chap, it's ability. Last season he was holding up the ball for others to come in and score, this season he looks so selfish and slow, looks a different player to me. Creating hardly anything himself and the hold up play is missing from his game. He missed about 3 quality through balls against Chelsea too He was a proper pest for defenders last season without his goals, movement was class, this season, he is getting pushed off the ball far to much and loses it with ease. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 27 minutes ago, sne said: Yeah that's part of it I think it's a big part of it tbh - it's been chopped and changed so often and the successful 3 up-front formula wasn't used at first, and he's had to play in a 2-man forward pairing, which I'm not sure he'd ever really played before (as Brentford were 4-3-3 too and before that he was a winger). Not to mention that buying Ings may not have been the best confidence boost for him as he worked so hard last season to prove himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 40 minutes ago, foreveryoung said: It's not goals chap, it's ability. Last season he was holding up the ball for others to come in and score, this season he looks so selfish and slow, looks a different player to me. Creating hardly anything himself and the hold up play is missing from his game. He missed about 3 quality through balls against Chelsea too He was a proper pest for defenders last season without his goals, movement was class, this season, he is getting pushed off the ball far to much and loses it with ease. Completely this, he’s a shadow of himself. He’s making poor decisions a lot, he looks like he’s lot a yard of pace which makes no sense, he’s more selfish and we’ve seen less of him holding the ball up. Even when he’s on his own up front it’s still the same, so blaming others doesn’t totally fit either. It’s baffling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted December 28, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted December 28, 2021 Borrow Jack back for the rest of the season and Ollie will shine again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 2 hours ago, lexicon said: But we've got much better creative options to play there instead of Ings - people who are quicker, more skillful, better passers etc. It's just a waste. Totally agree. I just meant that we need to switch Watkins and Ings around if we’re going to insist on playing both of them in the same team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted December 28, 2021 Moderator Share Posted December 28, 2021 People are looking at Watkins playing in midfield and saying he's a bad striker. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted December 28, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted December 28, 2021 2 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: People are looking at Watkins playing in midfield and saying he's a bad striker. Exactly. It's as simple as this. When he's played up front he's good. When he's shifted out wide to shoehorn Ings into the side he's not. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 7 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: Exactly. It's as simple as this. When he's played up front he's good. When he's shifted out wide to shoehorn Ings into the side he's not. This season he’s been poor. The Ings/Watkins thing hasn’t worked so far but even when Ollie is on his own he’s been poor, he’s just a shadow of himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted December 28, 2021 Moderator Share Posted December 28, 2021 3 minutes ago, nick76 said: This season he’s been poor. The Ings/Watkins thing hasn’t worked so far but even when Ollie is on his own he’s been poor, he’s just a shadow of himself. He's scored two in his last four games up top in fairness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said: He's scored two in his last four games up top in fairness. Agreed and this is what people been saying both have fortunately scored goals (not many) despite their all around poor displays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted December 28, 2021 Moderator Share Posted December 28, 2021 21 minutes ago, nick76 said: Agreed and this is what people been saying both have fortunately scored goals (not many) despite their all around poor displays. I think Ings needs a run of games to get into his rhythm up top, he's not really had that. I think Watkins has been fine up front, worked hard, scored goals, hold up play has been so-so and he needs to work on his link up stuff. Watkins has been poor as a number ten - you could see it against Chelsea, he's not comfortable there, he wants to play up front - and when he's in as a ten, he makes it difficult for Ings because he's not great at supply and he wants to be in the same places Ings does. One or the other for me - Watkins in midfield doesn't work. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts