Gary Neville left shocked by Ian Wright’s Ollie Watkins criticism at Aston Villa, ‘I’m surprised…’

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In line with Aston Villa’s poor performances as a whole, Ollie Watkins has failed to score in his first six appearances so far this season.

Unai Emery and former president of football operations Monchi experienced a fairly underwhelming summer on the transfer front, but Aston Villa still had high expectations heading into the new campaign.

The fixture list was fairly kind to Villa to start the season – at least that’s what many thought before Emery’s side kicked a ball.

But after five Premier League games, Ollie Watkins and co have amassed three points and Monchi has now left Villa.

It’s a tricky situation, and although Emery is a manager capable of turning the ship around, it’s all looking pretty bleak for now. 

Ian Wright shares why he’s not been impressed by Ollie Watkins at Aston Villa

That being said, Ian Wright had some strong words to say about Watkins’ form on the ‘Stick to Football’ podcast.

Watkins was linked with a Villa exit this summer, only to eventually stay put at Villa Park.

And after listening to Wright’s Watkins criticism, Gary Neville admitted that he was ‘surprised’, even if he might not necessarily disagree.

Wright said: “As a player, I think that he should be doing more for what he’s capable of doing.

“He’s a channel runner, gets in the box, he gets on the end of things. I think he could be a lot sharper with his finishing, and I thought that’s what he’d be working on. 

“Just like the one touch finish or the touch finish on both sides, those are the things that when you get to the level where you score goals in like semi final of the Euros and that, those are the things you work on now for getting the chance to stay in the width of the 18-yard box and taking your chance.

“He just doesn’t do that, he doesn’t do it enough.”

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Neville replied: “I’m surprised, that’s a big criticism from you because you are obviously I think qualified.”

Wright: “Only because I believe that he’s got, you know, when you watched him at Brentford, even when he first went to Villa, his work-rate, and you think, right, he’s got all that, that’s brilliant. 

“Just work on the first touch in the box finish, near post finish, whatever you’re finished with, near foot finish, that’s what he should be working on.

“But like you watch him and he still looks like a player that was at the Euros before.”

Ollie Watkins’ dwindling goal record at Aston Villa

Putting Watkins’ disappointing start to this current campaign aside, his goal record did significantly worsen last term in comparison to 2023/24.

Villa have been excellent over the past two years, and a lot of that has been down to Watkins’ scoring and leadership.

But the striker’s most basic numbers would suggest that his form has been on the decline for some time.

Paul Scholes has also said that Watkins is ‘not quite right’ at the moment – even if the same could be said for most of Villa’s players.

Morgan Rogers, a player who is thought to be valued at over £100m by Emery’s side, has also been poor at the start of this new season – it’s not clicking for Villa as a whole.

Emery certainly has the credentials to turn things around, but he’ll be mindful that a clear improvement needs to be seen sooner rather than later.