Ollie Watkins helped Aston Villa to destroy Newcastle before revealing that he was furious against Unai Emery for having left him the quarter-final of the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain.
The club’s top scorer stayed on the bench for everyone, except the last 14 minutes of normal time, last Tuesday, while Villa was eliminated by the French champions despite winning 3-2 in the night.
Recalled against the Magpies, who are only two points above Emery’s men, Watkins scored in a minute and played brilliantly to help Villa in a 4-1 victory-and told the world exactly what he thought of the Emery selection policy later.
“I played 20 minutes against PSG in both games, so I’m not going to lie – I furious that I was not playing,” said Watkins. “I did it (Emery) knowledge. He is the manager at the end of the day. I respect his decision. But I am not one of the players happy to sit on the bench.
” This is something that I have never known before, missing the biggest scene. You always want to play, especially in the Champions League. Me and some other disappointed sums, we did not start the game, but as I said, it is the manager’s decision.
“The team played very well, but I wanted to be on the ground much longer. I wanted to start in important games because I played a big role to bring (villa) to the place where we are today. Rather than letting it be bothering, you have to use this anger as motivation.
Ollie Watkins revealed that he had informed Unai Emery that he `furious ” that he had started none of the quarter -final links of the Aston Villa Champions League against PSG
The Emery team lost 5-4 in aggregate while Watkins played less than 30 minutes through both legs
The striker responded on Saturday by scoring and helping the 4-1 victory of Villa against Newcastle
The villa is determined to add an attacker in summer, ideally a young player with a similar profile to Jhon Duran, who was sold to the Saudi Club al-Nassr for 66.5 million pounds sterling in winter. They have an option of 40 million pounds sterling to buy Marcus Rashford in Manchester United, and they can consider trying to keep it on loan for all next season.
Villa goes to Manchester City Tuesday for another match likely to be crucial for their qualification prospects for the Champions League for next season. This victory put them at the level of the points with the Fifth Forest of Nottingham, which is in Tottenham on Monday / tomorrow.
Watkins added: “We are incredibly doing now. We have to win all the matches in front of us and win this place in the Champions League.
Emery said, “Being angry is fantastic. Playing as he did today is what I want. It is a very good person, always respectful and his commitment is always very good. As a club, we have increased our level.
“When I speak to each player, it is a question of trying to understand where he is and it was a very good conversation. When he answers as he did today, I am so happy.
Manager Eddie Howe always recovering from pneumonia, his assistant Jason Tindall has resumed management. He added: “The most important thing for Eddie is that he rests and recovers and the earlier he will, the earlier he will be with the team.
“We cannot lose sight of where we are. We are third in the Premier League with five games to play. At the start of the season, everyone would have been satisfied with it.
