Steven Gerrard feels Ollie Watkins is refocused after benching the striker he believes offers Aston Villa a similar selfless presence to Fernando Torres, via quotes by the Express & Star.
Watkins began Gerrard’s reign in fine fashion with three goals and an assist over his first six games in charge. But the forward struggled for form after Christmas, as he went five games without scoring. His performance at Newcastle last month ultimately costing him his place.
Dan Burn dominated the 26-year-old at St James’ Park, as Watkins failed to lead the line or hold the ball up. A similar story to his prior game against Leeds, as Pascal Struijk and Diego Llorente stifled his impact. Danny Ings then led the line against Watford without Watkins.
But Gerrard benching Watkins has worked wonders since, with the England striker scoring in Aston Villa’s last two games. He helped seal a 2-0 win at Brighton after Matty Cash broke the deadlock. And he then opened the scoring in a 4-0 win over Southampton last week.
Torquay-born Watkins has now scored seven goals over 23 Premier League appearances so far this season, starting 21. His efforts against Brighton and Southampton also keeping the five-cap international the Villans’ top-scorer, ahead of Jacob Ramsey and Ings on five each.
Gerrard feels Watkins gives Aston Villa similar ‘selfless’ star to Torres
Gerrard feels Watkins has appeared back to his best in Aston Villa’s wins over Brighton and Southampton having refocused his mind in response to being benched at home to Watford.
The Villans boss also refuses to compare Watkins to his former Liverpool teammate Torres. As while he reminds Gerrard of the Spaniard, the £28m star deserves to be his own player.
“He reminds me [of Torres] in a lot of ways,” Gerrard said. “In terms of his profile and how he goes about it. He has that physical presence and build where, out of possession, he can be really effective for the team as well.
“I’m not comparing him to Torres the player, Ollie doesn’t deserve that. He deserves to be compared only to himself. But in terms of the build and the style of how he used to do for the team in terms of being selfless, a lot of hard work. They are really honest players.
“As a teammate and manager, that’s exactly what you want and Watkins, when he’s at his best, nails both sides of the game. In the last two games, we’ve seen that. It was a case of refocusing Ollie. I took him out of the team to take him out of the firing line and reset.”
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