A look at one of their star men on international duty…
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00:00So, Charlie, Aston Villa's star man, Ollie Watkins, obviously had an incredible season
00:07by numbers last year. Maybe it was a case of the neutrals who weren't watching him every
00:12week, didn't really understand how good of a player he was and then, come the end of
00:16the season, the amount of goals and, you know, most notably, the amount of assists as well,
00:20winning the most in the Premier League last season. It was quite unbelievable. Then they
00:24go to the Euros and he's sort of left out and he has that magical moment in the semi-final.
00:31Just your thoughts on him being ignored from England's starts. Obviously, we've had a few
00:35camps now and how sort of impressive with him have you been with his, you know, impressive
00:40start to the season? Yeah, I think it's shocking really against
00:44Greece. England's first defeat against Greece at Wembley ever. It's a weird team selection
00:49from Lee Carsley, the interim manager, not starting any recognised striker when Harry
00:53came as injured, going for Jude Bellingham as a false nine. Some people saying it's ballsy,
00:58it's intelligent to be trying to rotate and experiment in the Nations League, not the
01:02biggest competition, not the most prioritised competition, but when you've got Ollie Watkins
01:06and Dominic Solanke sat on the bench, that's just inexcusable in my opinion, especially
01:10with Watkins with, as you said, his scoring output last season, his creative output as
01:15well and, as we saw at the Euros, his ability to get in behind offer a different dimension
01:19for England and he's not starting. I thought the problem might have been solved with Carsley
01:24in the first game or two as he was picking players based off form, but I've lost faith
01:28in him based on those two team selections against Greece and then against Finland as
01:32well. Obviously, Harry came back into the fold against Finland, was a bit different
01:36of a scenario. You would expect Watkins and Solanke to be on the bench in that scenario,
01:40but the Greece one, I just can't get over the fact he didn't play. For Villa, he's been
01:44in fantastic form. He did start the season a little bit slowly, maybe with a bit of a
01:48knock after the Euros, not quite as sharp as usual, but even then, still registering
01:52goals and assists and getting involved and playing 60, 70 minutes before that man John
01:56Durant comes off the bench for Villa. So, yes, a big shock for me that Watkins hasn't
02:00been involved for England as much as he should be.
02:04And Tyra Mings, obviously a player who was involved in England as well, then got that
02:07horrific injury and Boubacar Kamara as well, nearing returns for Aston Villa. Firstly,
02:14when can they be expected back? And secondly, what sort of boost do they bring to Unai Emery's
02:19side?
02:20Yeah, it's been massive having Mings on the sidelines for 14 months now, suffered that
02:25ACL injury against Newcastle United last season in that 5-1 defeat. That feels like a long
02:29time ago. Villa have obviously come a long way since that day at St James' Park. And
02:33then of course, Boubacar Kamara, the start of the year, suffering a similar injury, not
02:37quite as severe. And both players are expected back imminently. They've been in training,
02:42full training with the first team. They've been getting minutes with the under-21s quite
02:46regularly as well. And there was also behind closed doors friendly against Sheffield Wednesday
02:50during the international break, which I didn't get confirmation if Mings and Kamara did play,
02:55but I heard beforehand that they had a good chance of getting some involvement in that
02:58as well. So, a big boost for Villa. Obviously, Mings, a bit more rotation at the back in
03:03the Champions League, perhaps, in the cup competitions with Paulo Torres. And then Boubacar
03:06Kamara and Amadou Onana, they can share those minutes in the field as well. So, fantastic
03:11news.