Ollie Watkins takes ‘offence’ to off-the-pitch Aston Villa incident

Alan Hutton, a former full-back for Aston Villa, is joining us as our exclusive columnist. He will provide his opinions on the most talked-about topics at Villa Park every week.

Alan Hutton thinks he understands Ollie Watkins’ response after Aston Villa’s late winner in Sunday’s 2-1 victory at Brentford on December 17.

In a fierce match that also saw two players sent off, Watkins scored in the 85th minute at the Gtech Community Stadium, just after Alex Moreno had cancelled out Keane Lewis-Potter’s opening goal.

The England player pointed at a Brentford fan while standing in the net; he later said that this was because the fan had verbally harassed him.

The Metropolitan Police are currently investigating the incident involving Watkins, who previously spent three years on the Bees’ roster, according to BBC Sport [18 December].

Hutton thinks Villa’s late-game comeback from a goal down to take third place in the Premier League, together with Watkins’ response, only serve to emphasize the team’s shift in philosophy under Unai Emery.

“I comprehend it,” he responded to Villa News on Watkins’ contentious festivity.”I used to play full-back, so I was constantly in close proximity to the crowd, and you would get completely hammered by fans.”

He took offense at anything that was stated, but usually I would just laugh it off. He accomplished the greatest thing he could have done, which was to score a goal.

It’s all a part of the game, it is what it is. How he responds to it is up to him. Sometimes you have to be able to take it if you’re going to give it out.

However, it appeared that there were a few other flare-ups following that particular incident; a few various bits that resulted from it.

That does happen occasionally, and you simply have to handle it. That’s where I think this Villa team’s mentality has truly changed in terms of handling these circumstances.”

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