Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins came off the bench and made a useful impact as England beat Finland 3-1 in the UEFA Nations League on Sunday.
It has been an interesting international break for Aston Villa‘s main hitman after he was left out of the starting XI following England’s defeat to Greece last time out.
This is despite Harry Kane being injured and not featuring, with interim boss Lee Carsley playing two false nines instead and a host of attacking midfielders.
It didn’t work, in fact, it blew up in England’s face and Watkins had every right to be annoyed by Carsley because he should have started that match.
Well, Kane was fit to play in Helsinki and he led the line for his nation, with Jack Grealish opening the scoring in the first half.
For large parts, it was a pretty dull game, with the tempo of play pretty slow and the feeling that Gareth Southgate was still in charge.
But then Watkins, alongside Chelsea’s Noni Madueke, was introduced into the action after the hour mark and the energy levels in the final third were different.
Trent Alexander-Arnold scored a stunning free-kick after 74 minutes, but it wasn’t after Watkins chased after the ball on the flanks, kept it in, fed the ball to Jude Bellingham, who was then fouled and England scored from that resulting free-kick.
Ten minutes later, Villa’s star striker was involved again, this time on his own on the left flank, running the ball into the final third, entering the penalty area and playing a ball across for Declan Rice to stab home from close range.
It was pretty clear that Watkins did more than his striker counterpart despite spending less than half of the time on the field.
Ian Wright spoke about Watkins’ cameo from the bench and dropped some truth bombs about how ‘we know’ that Kane can’t match the Villa man for energy, running in behind or running the channels.
Ollie Watkins stars as England beat Finland in the UEFA Nations League
“We know that’s not Harry Kane’s strength (running in behind and stretching play like Watkins does),” said Wright.
“But we know that Ollie Watkins can do that, once he dropped in this situation (deep in his own half on the left channel), you are thinking ‘just don’t lose it’. He’s being very positive, takes him on, once he does, bang and then the run from Declan Rice is fantastic.
“This is what was happening towards the end. You have somebody who could come in and stretch the team.”
Should Ollie Watkins be starting for England ahead of Harry Kane?
England look far better, more energetic and lively when Watkins is up top than the captain himself.
Whether the 28-year-old should be starting is still up for debate, but one thing is for sure, he deserves more respect and more minutes on the field.
If Kane was fit against Greece, then Carsley doesn’t deploy the formation that he did and the Bayern Munich man starts.
Watkins has been proving his worth at Villa for years now and it’s high time he was respected a lot more!
Thankfully, he hasn’t picked up any injury and he is ready to return to Villa where Watkins is battling Jhon Duran for a starting spot.
