Ollie Watkins is a striker who is appreciated highly at Aston Villa for his goal-scoring exploits, especially since the arrival of Unai Emery.
Watkins has evolved into one of the greatest strikers in the world since the Spanish tactician joined Aston Villa in October 2022.
Only Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland have been involved in more goals than Watkins in the Premier League during that time, with the 28-year-old scoring 35 and assisting 19.
Villa’s incredible talisman and master creator reached new heights last term as his 37-goal contributions in all competitions helped fire Unai Emery’s men into the Champions League.
The Englishman has since started this campaign in a similar vein of form, scoring four and assisting three in nine appearances, but that hasn’t necessarily warranted appreciation from the Three Lions.
Ollie Watkins left on the bench for England vs Greece
During Gareth Southgate’s time in charge of England, Watkins was rarely favoured to lead the line with the world-class Harry Kane ahead of him in the pecking order.
When Kane was out of form in the Euros, the Villa talisman truly stepped up from the bench, scoring the winning goal in the semi-final against the Netherlands.
Although the tournament ended in a final defeat to Spain, Watkins will be remembered for scoring that goal for eternity but it unfortunately hasn’t led to further recognition internationally.
The former Brentford man hasn’t started since a 3-0 win over Bosnia in June and in England’s 2-1 defeat to Greece on Thursday night, Watkins was left on the bench despite Kane’s injury.
Lee Carsley started with Jude Bellingham as a striker instead however, he made the interim boss regret that decision after assisting Bellingham for his long-range strike.
Alan Shearer urges Ollie Watkins to knock on Lee Carsley’s door
Watkins must have felt his time to start a game for England was last night after Kane pulled out of the squad through injury.
Roy Keane and Ian Wright both said that Watkins would have been fuming with that decision and Alan Shearer shared a similar view.
The Newcastle legend has encouraged the striker to knock on Carsley’s door demanding to start the next game against Finland on Sunday.
Speaking on the Rest Is Football YouTube channel, Shearer said: “You would be absolutely raging, wouldn’t you, if you were Ollie Watkins? Your main man or your main centre-forward is injured and you have been crying out for an opportunity, and when you have come on, you have actually done alright in terms of Watkins.
“And he is doing well at club level, yet when Kane’s out, the manager comes in and says, well, I am not going to play you tonight at home against Greece, I am going to try something different. And he should be going knocking on his door tonight or tomorrow to say, I have to play the next game. If Kane’s not fit.”
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Watkins can’t do much more to start for England
Watkins is in a position where he can’t do much more to start for the Three Lions and Carsley’s decision to leave him out of the starting XI backfired, and perhaps showed he’s not up to the job.
The choice to leave him on the bench would have been understandable if he’d started the season poorly but a return of four goals and three assists in nine matches shows he’s performing to an elite level.
The fact such returns don’t warrant a start against Greece is nothing to do with Watkins, he can do no more. It’s all on Carsley, who was left with egg on his face after he came off the bench and grabbed an assist.
