Ollie Watkins’ elite attacking display shows West Ham what they are missing
In the month of January last year, West Ham United initially showed their desire to acquire Ollie Watkins.
West Ham desired to improve their attacking choices as Sebastien Haller, their then biggest signing, was experiencing difficulty settling in. At that time, Watkins was playing for Brentford, however, the team was unwilling to sell him. As a result, West Ham decided to secure Jarrod Bowen from Hull City instead. Although Bowen has progressed into an essential contributor for the team, Watkins' display during the 4-1 defeat against Aston Villa last Sunday was a cue of what West Ham could have attained.
Watkins, who is 27 years old, had initially caught the attention of West Ham before ultimately becoming a member of Aston Villa eight months later. He has had a significant impact on the game, being responsible for 27 goals in 33 Premier League appearances since Unai Emery took charge. This includes scoring 18 goals and providing 9 assists. He ranks just below Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Manchester City's Erling Haaland, who have contributed to more goals during this same period.
Antonio had a hard time standing out during the match against Aston Villa last Sunday (image courtesy of West Ham United FC).
The player from England, who scored a goal and gave an assist against David Moyes' team, gave a hard time to Aston Villa and did not allow Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd to take a break.
Moyes mentioned that Watkins had been targeted during his time at Brentford, and had scored an impressive goal. Aston Villa, according to him, is one of the teams that are just below the top three or four renowned teams in the Premier League. Today's game was a significant test to see how well we were performing. In my opinion, we didn't meet expectations.
I think we ought to have played against them with a more intense and competitive approach like we did with Newcastle. Even though Newcastle is currently in the top four, I believe that Villa is a team that closely follows the ranks of those above them.
Moyes might be worried about Antonio's recent performance setbacks. Even though the 33-year-old made a decent start to the season with goals in victories against Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion, the Jamaica national entered the Sunday match without any goals in his last five league games, and he didn't play well against Aston Villa.
Antonio's display was nowhere near as impressive as Watkins' efficiency in the attacking zone. He rarely posed a challenge to Aston Villa's defensive pair of Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres.
The player up in front had interacted with the ball six times while in Villa's area, but none of those interactions were in a central spot.
On the other hand, Watkins had great synergy with his team-mates and showcased the qualities of an exceptional striker who can efficiently navigate the playing field. This used to be Antonio's forte, but he's not able to maintain it consistently anymore. Watkins managed to make nine touches in the opposing team's box, predominantly in the middle.
Unai Emery showed his trust in Watkins, leading to Aston Villa's decision to trade Danny Ings to West Ham in January. Even though Ings was their top scorer with seven goals in 21 games across different competitions, at 31 years old, he didn't fit David Moyes' 4-2-3-1 strategy. In the Premier League, Ings has yet to score since his two goals in the 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest back in February.
West Ham suffered a significant loss in the match against Villa.
Moyes has set his team a goal to compete for a top six position. He has been encouraged in his aspirations by acquiring four new players: Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse, Konstantinos Mavropanos, and Mohammed Kudus. However, the final puzzle piece that Moyes needs is a skilled striker. This is the one position that West Ham has struggled to fill consistently.
Teddy Sheringham was the previous football player to score twenty goals in one season (2004-05) for West Ham as a striker. The last time any forward for the team hit the same target was Tony Cottee in a top-flight tournament during the season of 1986-87.
Although Kudus isn't a popular forward, he has displayed flashes of his attacking abilities ever since he joined from Ajax in the summer. During the game against Aston Villa, Moyes stuck to the same set of players, naming the same starting XI for the fifth Premier League game in a row. This is a remarkable achievement as no other West Ham team has achieved this since December 1993 to January 1994 under Billy Bonds, who had a six-game winning streak.
Although Kudus managed to score a goal and draw the match against Newcastle United in the closing stages, he is yet to receive his very first start in the Premier League. Even so, Moyes shared that he has a strong inclination to give Kudus a starting position in every game. However, the team has been performing quite well and he wants to remain fair to all the players. Moyes is currently striving to strike a balance in the team's performance, as it can either bring about favourable results or create difficulties.
Although the final score may appear unfavorable, we did have some positive moments today. However, the consistent actions that have been successful for us at West Ham over the past few years were not executed effectively enough during the game.
Besides Antonio's difficulties, other important members of the team faced challenges in their performance. A weak pass from Lucas Paqueta created a stressful situation for Alvarez, ultimately leading to him giving away a penalty. Additionally, Tomas Soucek's play in the No 10 position was underwhelming. In the end, Ward-Prowse's assessment proved to be the most significant.
The administrator of the club stated that their aim is to reach a position in the top six of the table and compete with other teams. He also added that the current game has given them a clear understanding of the efforts and skills required to achieve this goal.
The image at the top of the blog post features James Gill who is credited to Danehouse/Getty Images.
