View: How does Unai Emery solve the Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings dilemma at Aston Villa?
Since moving to Aston Villa in 2021, Danny Ings has found purple patches of goalscoring form hard to come by, but when he has, they’ve unfortunately come to the detriment of strike partner Ollie Watkins.
For Unai Emery, this Watk-Ings dilemma remains top of his to-do list, as the failure to get the two playing successfully together was one of the key reasons for both Dean Smith and Steven Gerrard’s sackings from the club.
When Ings was brought from Southampton two and a half seasons ago it was thought Villa had a duo who possessed the goal-scoring ability to spring Aston Villa up the Premier League and into contention for European football.
However, things just haven’t quite worked out for the pair.
The two previous regimes tried and failed – in several different tactical set-ups – to get the duo fully firing in Claret and Blue.
Playing them as split strikers didn’t work, lining them as part of a front three was no better, and even playing Watkins off Ings’ shoulder bore no success.
Both players in turn were resigned to spells on the touchline, as the other tried to prove why he was the centre-forward Villa should start on a consistent basis.
Emery now though is lucky enough to have both forwards present during the six-week Premier League hiatus and will be sitting down with the pair and assessing how both can use their assets to improve his team.
The clear problem is the Spaniard’s choice of formation doesn’t suit both players’ strengths.
The ex-Villarreal boss’s desired formation is a narrow 4-4-2, and ideally, his second striker is a pacey winger who can get in behind and stretch the opposition’s defence.
This game plan worked a treat against Manchester United, as Leon Bailey played the support role to Watkins quite brilliantly. The Jamaican winger used his pace and power on that ball to cause United issues all afternoon long-running directly at the Red Devils’ back four and relishing any one-on-one opportunities he could manufacture.
Together, Bailey and Watkins posed a threat that any Premier League defence would be wary of – and their partnership worked brilliantly.
Now where this leaves Ings in Emery’s plans nobody quite knows, but following a brace against Brighton, the Englishman has put his name in the ring for a stretch of starts upon returning from the World Cup break.
Whether Emery could try and utilise Bailey, Watkins and Ings as a front three without losing control of the midfield is a balance that the Spaniard must try and strike.
Playing Ings and Watkins as the front two and Bailey on the right side of the midfield four could potentially work, as long as Luiz and Kamara are sitting at the base of the midfield and able to cover the Jamaican whenever he sets off on one of his marauding runs.
On paper, the trio look like a match made in heaven, but the proof will be in the pudding.
Emery has to be brave enough to try this extremely exciting but potentially flawed tactical switch which could finally bring an end to the Watk-Ings dilemma.
In other news, Ty Bracey would like to see Aston Villa sign Eden Hazard, not getting overexcited.