Aston Villa news: Whelan issues ‘massive’ Ollie Watkins claim
There is “massive pressure” on struggling Aston Villa duo Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings, according to Noel Whelan.
The former Leeds striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, claimed there is “something clearly wrong” with the Midlands side after their recent form.
Ings, 29, and Watkins, 26, failed to hit the target with any of their four shots as Watford defeated Aston Villa 1-0 on Saturday (19 February).
As quoted by the Express and Star (21 February), manager Steven Gerrard said he “has to demand more from players in the final third”, and called on his attacking players to “stand up and be counted”.
When asked if Gerrard could change his system in light of Villa’s recent struggles, Whelan told Football Insider‘s Ewan Kingsbury: “There are definitely possibilities.
“There’s no doubt that Gerrard is coming under some pressure now considering how he started in the job and how they’ve fallen off.
“There’s something clearly wrong because when you look at that attacking arsenal – there’s an abundance of options they can choose from. It’s quite frightening.
“They’ve got to learn how to break teams down. Teams understand how dangerous Villa are and will sit in with a low block.
“They’ve got to show more attacking presence, and there’s massive pressure on Ings and Watkins now.
“At the end of the day, they’re strikers – they are paid to score goals. That’s what we need to start seeing from them, a bit more of a clinical nature.”
12th-place Aston Villa have won just one of their last eight games across all competitions.
Ings and Watkins have netted a combined nine Premier League goals this term.
In other news, pundit tells Aston Villa to forget Wilfred Ndidi and sign 25-year-old after source’s update.