Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins shared his thoughts on his side’s inability to secure the win against Brentford on Saturday, seeing club legend Gabby Agbonlahor and pundit Alan Shearer give their verdict on what was said.
It was a frustrating week for Aston Villa in the Premier League, as Unai Emery’s side failed to secure a crucial three points against Brentford on Saturday.
After losing 4-1 to Manchester City earlier that week, it was imperative that the Villans made up the ground lost in that fixture to ensure they remained ahead in the top-four race.
Unfortunately, Spurs took their chance to take fourth on Sunday, beating Nottingham Forest to make Villa’s 3-3 draw with Brentford even more aggravating.
After the dramatic draw, Ollie Watkins voiced his opinions on his team’s struggles to close games off after going ahead, seeing BBC Match of the Day pundits discuss his strong words.
Now, the Englishman’s comments have been analysed by many surrounding the game, including club legend, Gabby Agbonlahor.
What Gabby Agbonlahor and Alan Shearer thought of Ollie Watkins comments
Speaking on talkSPORT, Agbonlahor admitted that he sympathises with Watkins as the Englishman called on his side to channel a “big team mentality”.
“I can see the frustration of Watkins, he’s in the form of his life, he’s on for more than 20 Premier League goals this season and he’s thinking ‘I’m scoring goals, I’m doing my job’.”
The former Villa talisman joined Watkins in expressing his dissatisfaction in the way the hosts drew with Brentford, conceding three goals after going 2-0 up to then end up chasing an equaliser.
“Villa were two up and you concede three goals in nine minutes, unacceptable. If you want to finish in the top four, you can’t have form like that.”
Agbonlahor wasn’t the only former Premier League figure who chose to address Watkins’ comments, with record-goalscorer Alan Shearer also sharing his thoughts on The Rest Is Football podcast.
“I get why he said it, I understand it, I haven’t got an issue with it and probably I agree with it. You can’t actually blame him for saying because in reality that is the case.”
“I know they had a good end to the season last season and they’ve had a really good season again but you can’t just flick and switch in a season and all of a sudden you’ve got that mentality. It’s going to take time.”
Alan Shearer’s comments on Aston Villa and Ollie Watkins are fair
For Shearer to not only commend Aston Villa’s growth this season but to also address how soon the recent success has come, exaggerates the main thing to take from Watkins’ rant.
Villa are where they deserve to be, having been a consistently strong side since Emery’s arrival in October 2022 however, the majority of the squad aren’t perhaps used to playing with such high stakes.
When the Spaniard took charge, Villa were 16th in the Premier League table with the majority of the squad still a part of Emery’s plans today, telling of a new standard that has to be learned as well as maintained.
The only solution to the concerns that Watkins addressed after the Brentford draw is to rediscover form and not let history repeat itself, something that could be difficult with Arsenal away next up in the Premier League.
The post 'Can't actually blame him': Agbonlahor & Shearer agree with what Aston Villa star said after Brentford appeared first on Aston Villa News.