Aston Villa: Roy Keane moots Manchester United transfer for Ollie Watkins live on Sky Sports
Ollie Watkins endured a frustrating afternoon as Aston Villa suffered a major blow in their hunt for a Champions League place with defeat at home to Tottenham.
In a game which may have carried the hallmarks of fatigue following the midweek European clash with Ajax the home side were hit by a quick-fire Spurs double after the break, then saw captain John McGinn shown a straight red card in the latest controversy between the two sides on the way to a damaging 4-0 defeat.
Having been backed for a potential move to “bigger clubs” prior to the game by Roy Keane, off the back of his excellent form this year, the 28-year-old was unable to show anything of the sort in the game.
He had one blocked shot in a scrappy first half, which proved to be his only attempt on goal on the day, and was barged away from one other breakthrough by Micky van de Ven for the extent of his opportunities to impress.
Keane said ahead of kick-off, live on Sky Sports: “He could play for one of the top teams couldn’t he you’d think, easy?
“They are a top team obviously but bigger clubs. You’re looking at Man United, Liverpool, obviously [Manchester] City. And that’s a compliment to him, not that he has to leave Villa, but he’s capable of doing it I’d think, he’s looked so sharp, he’s got a good shape to him.
“His movement is as good as any of the strikers in the Premier League, he’s having an amazing season.”
But Watkins’ performance was a disappointing one as Aston Villa fell to Spurs, as according to SofaScore stats he was a long way short of his best.
Although he won three of his four aerial duels (75%) that was about as good as it got, as he was largely ineffective in his sparse contributions otherwise.
From just 28 touches of the ball he only attempted 15 passes, completing 10 (67%), and only one was considered “key”, while he lost possession a total of 12 times.
Carrying the ball he was highly ineffective as he won a single ground duel from seven attempts (14.3%), as a key game passed him by.
Miserable Ollie Watkins day for Aston Villa won’t have edged him any closer to Old Trafford
A cagey first 45 minutes at Villa Park saw little of the star striker at his best, with his most eye-catching contribution a squandered attempt to square the ball when clean through, only for the offside to spare him.
The danger with Watkins is how he can appear to be having an off day only to end up making the crucial different from little involvement, but unfortunately for him this time around he was unable to come good as things fell apart in the second half and became even more peripheral.
Regardless of the Spurs game he has proven his undoubted quality this term, with 21 goals and 10 assists across all competitions coming into the weekend, including 26 goal Premier League goal-involvements from 27 games in the top flight.
It would be absolutely no surprise if some of the clubs mentioned by Keane were interested a move for the England international, but given his importance to the Aston Villa project it would take massive money to get them to even consider.
As well as arguably being the best player in the squad he is also one without an obvious replacement, for all there are high hopes for Jhon Duran, so he remains vital to Emery.
Watkins was far from alone in struggling, as McGinn’s rash challenge ended hopes of a comeback and regular star this term Douglas Luiz was quiet, but it was certainly an off day for the striker.
In other Aston Villa news, the club struck at just the right time with a key contract development.
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