Express & Star

Aston Villa hero Ollie Watkins wants to be in the England goals

Villa striker Ollie Watkins says he was “all for” Carsley’s outlandish selection against Greece which saw Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon crammed into the side behind Bellingham.

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Ollie Watkins laid on England’s third goal after replacing Harry Kane in their Nations League win over Finland

The boss admitted afterwards they had only practised the system for 20 minutes.

“He explained to me that he was trying something different. I was all for it, we’ve got so many good players,” Watkins admitted.

“He wanted to try something different but explained that he didn’t have too much time.

“I think the best example is (how) Liverpool and (Roberto) Firmino played, he was like a false nine and they got it spot on, to be fair.

“Obviously it can work but I feel like they are training together every day, you need maybe a little bit more time.

“We have definitely got the players to do it.”

Despite his two assists in the last two games and his impressive creativity for Villa over the last two seasons, Watkins always wants to be the one scoring.

Asked if he gets as much enjoyment out of the assists, he said: “No. I want to be on the end of it scoring, at the end of the day.

“Scoring is the best feeling, as much as I like making them I definitely prefer to be on the end and scoring myself. That is second best so if I am not scoring it is the second best thing and happy days.

“Each year that goes by I feel like I am getting progressively better, learning more and more as each season goes by, trying to improve individually.

“Each year I set a new goal and I seem to reach it so I want to score more goals and prove myself in the Champions League this year.

“Everyone wants to play as many games for England and their club as possible.”