Former Aston Villa striker Tony Cascarino misses the mark in The Times column | OneFootball

By all means, Tony Cascarino is more accomplished than most who will criticize his latest words in his The Times column. Still, even a former player can get it wrong and misread a situation. After all, those currently involved at the highest levels will often disagree and assess things differently.

His Monday piece on what he views as the best path for Ollie Watkins' career shows an overall miscalculation on his end, however. The former Villa player is of the opinion that Watkins is underappreciated and needs a different club in order to make the most of his current form.

This shows a lack of consideration for typical club handling and what Unai Emery is trying to achieve with his 'starting 22' approach. In past eras, and for most sides today, the best players take the field and only come out if a severe dip in form forces the manager to turn to someone else. For the most part, even if someone is in a drought or not showing the best effort levels, they'll still trot out there by nature of being the more talented option for the gaffer.

With the help of Monchi, this isn't a given at Villa. Emery has two quality potential selections to make at every position. AVFC knew that with the amount of fixtures, it wouldn't be sustainable to go with the conventional approach. Granted, the hunt for silverware still came up short. The idea, for the most part, proved itself out in March and April.

While Watkins has expressed his frustration in the past over not starting every match, he, along with everyone else, knows the unique circumstances that the Villans are in. Of course, he will want to play a full 90 every time. Those in the dressing room are aware when they look around that their teammate is equal to the task. There is a common understanding that in order to be best positioned to achieve team success, sometimes it will mean sitting on the bench in a case where they normally wouldn't even come close to watching from the sidelines.

Villa setup is different from conventional club approach

More importantly, the point of having depth is to use it. It isn't truly a 'starting 22' if the same corps begins each match and plays most of the minutes. Yes, Watkins has looked like his former self since returning from injury. Part of a sustainable approach means rotating players at positions, even when playing well.

Case in point, even so, Marcus Rashford is now expected to be out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury. Rest assured, though, before then, Watkins knew what the club's aim was and why he was excluded from the lineup when he was.

He may have voiced his displeasure, but the current AVFC striker wasn't disrespectful about it, only matter-of-fact. Either way, with Rashford set to miss the remaining fixtures, Cascarino will get what he's advocating for anyway: Watkins will start through the month of May in each match.