Former England goalkeeper, Rob Green believes Gareth Southgate knows what to expect from Ollie Watkins after he was subbed off against North Macedonia.
Following a great start to the season for Aston Villa, Ollie Watkins has all but cemented himself as an England squad regular.
Under the reign of Unai Emery, the striker has taken off and become one of the best strikers in the whole Premier League.
So far this campaign, the Villa number 11 has registered six goals and five assists in just 12 matches, a great record. This puts him third behind Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah for most goal involvements. It also puts him ahead of stars like Heung-Min Son, Bukayo Saka and Darwin Nunez.
It is safe to say that Watkins has had a great start to the season and is well deserving of a spot in Gareth Southgate’s England squad.
What has Rob Green said about Ollie Watkins?
The Villa man started the final game of England’s Euro Qualification group against North Macedonia after being on the bench vs Malta.
He last started against Australia where he got on the scoresheet at Wembley to secure the friendly win.
This time out he couldn’t get on the scoresheet as the home side lined up in a five-at-the-back formation, limiting chances.
As a result, Watkins was substituted on 58 minutes and was replaced by eventual “goalscorer” Harry Kane.
Discussing this Villa man on BBC Football Daily, Rob Green said: “I think he’d seen enough. I think he’d made his mind up. He saw Ollie Watkins and said you know what, i don’t think tonight he’s been up to the standard that we need.”
Although Watkins had only managed 10 touches while on the pitch, he didn’t receive much in the way of service. He did have two chances early on which were blocked and went wide respectively, it just wasn’t his day.
Kane came on and was involved straight away for the equaliser. On that Green added: “That was the decision and if a manager makes a substitution and the player is directly involved in the goal 30 seconds later I think that’s quite a good decision.”
It must be said that the Bayern Munich man did have the desired impact on the game that Southgate wanted. Villa fans would have liked to see their man stay on the pitch for longer considering it was his first minutes of the camp.
It is clear that Green didn’t think much of his performance but considering the lack of time and chances, Watkins can’t be blamed.
