Ollie Watkins harms England chances after no-show from Aston Villa striker
Aston Villa forward Ollie Watkins had a disappointing 20-minute cameo on the pitch in England’s 1-1 draw with Denmark at Euro 2024.
Watkins replaced Three Lions captain Harry Kane in the 70th minute of their Group C clash in Frankfurt, but other than an early breakaway chance he fired into the side netting, made very little impact in attack.
Kane had departed with the scores level at 1-1 for over half of the match, having seen his 18th-minute opening goal cancelled out by Morten Hjulmand from distance after 34 minutes.
The England captain couldn’t provide much of a spark for the rest of his time on the pitch, but nor could Watkins on limited service in a performance that could see him fall down the pecking order.
Aston Villa ace Ollie Watkins a passenger in below-par England performance
Coming off a Premier League season in which he scored 19 goals and added 13 assists, Watkins arguably earned a starting place for England, but had to settle for second fiddle behind Kane.
Ivan Toney has also been taken to Germany as a centre-forward option by Southgate, but it was Watkins who got the nod off the bench against Denmark – picking up just a 6.1 rating on SofaScore at full-time.
Kane’s hold-up play, completing 87 per cent of his passes, far outshone that of Watkins once he came on, with the Villa striker failing to complete a single pass from one attempt – zero per cent.
He did manage 0.10 xG with that acute-angled strike into the side netting, but failed to create or be involved in another big chance and managed just five touches across 20 minutes.
Link-up play with fellow substitutes Eberechi Eze and Jarrod Bowen was seemingly non-existent, with Watkins losing possession four times and winning just one of his four duels in the air.
It was also zeroes across the board in terms of interceptions, tackles and free-kicks won, with Watkins a shadow of the striker seen at Villa Park throughout last season – albeit it was only in a cameo appearance.
With a final Group C match against Slovenia coming up on 25 June, Watkins will be hoping for more minutes on the pitch to redeem himself, but that redemption needs to happen sooner rather than later if he’s to remain as a realistic option for Southgate going forward.
In other Aston Villa news, Don Goodman believes a rival club must be in serious financial trouble if they allow one of their key players to join the Villans.
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