Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins has spoken about his recent comments over his limited role and reiterated his desire to deliver silverware for the club.
The 29-year-old gave a frank interview after playing a starring role in our 4-1 win over Newcastle Utd last weekend, as he revealed his frustration and anger over playing a limited role in recent big games.
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Having featured for just 25 minutes across both legs against Paris Saint-Germain in our Champions League quarter-final tie, Watkins has found himself on the bench for important Premier League and FA Cup games in recent weeks too, and his comments made plenty of headlines.
Many will perhaps agree that there was nothing wrong with what the Villa ace said, as we’d rather have players upset and angry over not playing as opposed to being content with just sitting on the sidelines, and that was the stance that Unai Emery took as he reiterated his happiness with Watkins given he continues to perform when called upon.
That was the point the Villa frontman made again when speaking after our defeat to Man City in midweek, and having played such a pivotal part in our progression to this point, he certainly doesn’t want to be watching on from the bench at this stage of his career.
“I was just saying, from my point of view, every player wants to play and that’s it, really,” he said, as quoted by the Express and Star. ” I think there would probably be a worry if I said ‘I’m happy to just sit on the bench and don’t want to play’. I think I’d be getting a bit of backlash. So yeah, just say it as it is.
“We never know who’s going to play at the end of the day. Sometimes the manager will tell us 30 minutes before we leave the hotel to head towards the stadium. He tells us the team then. Everyone just has to be prepared, really, and you never know what’s going to happen.”
The hope is that Watkins gets the nod to start in our FA Cup semi-final clash with Crystal Palace this weekend, as he’ll no doubt be fired up and itching to make a positive impact once again, and we’ll undoubtedly need it from those coming into the starting line-up after such a disappointing setback in Manchester on Tuesday night.
While we’ve made impressive progress under Emery since he was appointed having gone from relegation candidates to competing in the Champions League in the space of two years or so, a trophy is still missing in our list of achievements, and Watkins, much like the rest of the squad, is desperate to end that wait for the club and cap off what has been a brilliant journey thus far with something tangible to show for our efforts.
Further, it would be the perfect way to bounce back from midweek by booking our place in the final, as Villa will hope to have six more games to play this season across the Premier League and FA Cup, and each one will be must-win if we want to lift silverware and return to the Champions League next season.
“I’ve been saying to the boys one thing I set my eyes on when I joined the club was winning a trophy,” he added. “It’s been so long since the club has done, that’s the main aim, so, yeah, Saturday is massive, and we will be doing all we can to get to the final.
“This is the furthest since I’ve been at the club we’ve got in the FA Cup. We’ve always gone out quite early doors and it’s disappointing. You want to win these competitions and it’s nice that we’re in the latter stages of it.”
“We’ve just got to focus on ourselves as well and make sure we just win the games ahead of us. We knew it was going to be tough here today [vs Man City], fighting for Champions League and City pushed us to the limit, really.
“It’s a shame that we conceded at the end, but, look, we have to move on to the weekend now, focus on the FA Cup, a big game at Wembley. We all want to win a trophy, so all eyes on that.”
