Dean: Only pressure on Ollie comes from Ollie!
VILLA head coach Dean Smith feels Ollie Watkins may have been putting too much pressure on himself after becoming more goal-orientated in the last 18 months.
Watkins developed into an out-and-out striker at Brentford and marked his final campaign with 25 Championship goals before his club-record £28 million summer switch to Villa, where he scored six times in his first seven Premier League appearances.
Included in the 25-year-old’s haul was a sensational hat-trick in the 7-2 win against Liverpool and a double at Arsenal, but his purple patch was followed by a frustrating two-and-ahalf-month period without a goal.
He ended his drought, which lasted nine games, with the opener in the 2-0 win over Newcastle on Saturday but Smith insists nobody at the club was questioning his record, except Watkins himself.
“All goalscorers and centre-forwards will tell you they’re not that worried (about not scoring), but really they just want to score goals and Ollie is the same,” he said ahead of Villa’s trip to Burnley.
“His mentality has changed since he became a centre-forward at Brentford last season and his mentality is now about scoring goals.
“I’ve said it before that his work ethic has endeared him to all staff members and players here. Nobody was putting any pressure on him apart from himself.”
Villa snapped a three-match losing run to put more pressure on Newcastle head coach Steve Bruce and Smith insisted that victory was proof that the claret-and-blues are capable of winning games in different ways.
“It’s not always about being gung-ho and cavalier,” he said.
“It would have been very easy with the form that Newcastle were in to go with a very attacking system, but I just felt we needed to be solid as well, pick up second balls and play from there. We’ve got different ways we can win games now, which is probably the most pleasing thing.
“We’ve got a good organisation and structure so that when players come in, they know their roles and can do a really good job.”
Meanwhile, new guidance has been issued to referees and clubs after Bernardo Silva’s controversial goal for Manchester City against Villa last week.
Villa were furious when Rodri stole the ball from Tyrone Mings having come from an offside position in the build-up to the goal.
Referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) felt the law was applied correctly in allowing the goal to stand, but has since sought clarity from the game’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board and European football’s governing body UEFA.
Referees have now been urged to use the following guidance: “Where a player in an offside position immediately impacts on an opponent who has deliberately played the ball, the match officials should prioritise chal
lenging an opponent for the ball, and thus the offside offence of ‘interfering with an opponent by impacting on the opponent’s ability to play the ball’ should be penalised.”
The change should prevent a repeat of Silva’s goal, if a player comes from an offside position and immediately challenges an opponent
for the ball. However, a player in an offside position can still profit if he receives the ball from a defender without challenging for it – for instance in the event of a wayward back pass.
PGMOL cited Villa forward Ollie Watkins’ goal against Newcastle, which came about after he got on the end of a sliced clearance from Fabian Schar, as an example of one which would still stand.