He has a golfing shot celebration, but more importantly, a technique and eagle-eye for a set-piece reminiscent of Beckham. Surely, Southgate has to take him to the Euros ⸺James Ward-Prowse.
As a youngster James Ward-Prowse grew up as an avid Pompey fan, but today captains their bitter rivals Southampton. He has represented and captained England at youth level. At 26 years of age, he has amassed considerable experience with 261 Premier League appearances.
Ward-Prowse’s dead ball expertise could be a game changer for England. Whilst Ward-Prowse tucked away his first senior goal for England against San Marino, we saw a glimpse of his capabilities from set-piece situations.
In the 71st minute Ward-Prowse lined up a free-kick from the best part of 30 yards and were it not for a good save from San Marino’s Elia Benedettini, who tipped the effort on to the woodwork, Ward-Prowse would have doubled his England tally in the same match.
Ward-Prowse’s Premier League stats speak for themselves this season.
A goal tally of 7 includes 2 penalties and 4 free kicks. He also has 5 assists to his tally, 4 of which are from a corner and the other from a free kick. In total, 11 out of his 12 goal contributions this season have been from a dead ball situation. This is a decent record playing for a team currently in 13th place in the Premier League. It is the set-piece situations where he makes a difference.
England have a range of players who draw fouls from their opponents on a regular basis: Sterling, Kane, Sancho, Foden, Rashford and Grealish just to name a few. Ward-Prowse could be the man to help England profit from this.
As we saw in the 2018 World Cup, and against Poland, Stones and Maguire are very capable in the air and provide a very good target from corners. Stones providing Maguire with a headed assist to win the game for England against Poland is the most recent example of their importance and England’s reliance on set-play situations.
This goal was no mere fluke, Stones had been on the end of numerous England crosses in the international break and had opportunities to score. Stones has 4 goals in 18 appearances in the Premier League for Man City this season, an impressive goal tally for a centre-half. 2 of these goals were from set-pieces, with other 2 being tidy finishes in the penalty area.
One of the most infuriating events in a football match is when your team wins a corner, representing a great opportunity to challenge the oppositions defense, only for it to be cleared by the first man. It always begs the question, do some players really not practice corners during the week?
Well one man who definitely does is James Ward-Prowse. With the likes of Stones and Maguire amongst others, England are a major threat from corners. An aspect of the game which sometimes appears overlooked by many teams, but not England. In the 2018 World Cup England set a new record by scoring 9 of their 12 goals from set-pieces. Ward-Prowse’s accuracy from set-pieces could be an important ingredient to the way England are most likely to score.
Ward-Prowse is not just a fine set-piece taker, but also a gifted footballer. A box-to-box runner, and a decent passer of the ball.
He has nearly 200 more forward passes in the Premier League compared to Mount, and has more successful tackles and interceptions than the Chelsea man. I use these stats to boast Ward-Prowse’s ability, not denigrate Mount. (For the record, Mount would probably start if I was picking England’s first eleven).
The recent qualifiers saw Rice paired with Kalvin Phillips in defensive midfield positions. This stilted England’s forward play. Rice has shown for West Ham he can occupy a defensive role on his own, allowing Tomáš Souček to push on forward. Phillips adds little defensively and his contribution of a series of 5-10 yard passes showed scant creativity. Note, this also means that Jordan Henderson is surplus to requirements if Rice plays. Two holding midfielders are not required in my opinion. A defensive midfielder can be replaced with a more dynamic forward-thinking player such as Lingard, Maddison, Bellingham, Grealish, or Foden, should Southgate choose to play them centrally. But out of all the players mentioned in this position, Ward-Prowse boasts the best set-piece ability.
Granted there are other players in other positions who boast good set-piece ability. Most notably, in the past few years is Trent Alexander-Arnold. But, his form this season does not warrant a start in the England side and so he may not even be on the pitch.
Ward-Prowse would not look out of place alongside Mount and Rice in my England midfield. He brings something different to the team. His set-piece expertise could be just as beneficial to the squad as Rice is at cleaning up a mess in the midfield, or as Mount is at creating chances from open play and linking up with the attack.
Gareth Southgate should be including James Ward-Prowse in his 23-man squad this summer. Whether he starts is up for debate, and should he not, England have plenty of other talented players in his position. But given England’s limited ability to create chances from open play and reliance on set-pieces, as illustrated in the last World Cup, Ward-Prowse seems well-suited to England’s style of play.
No one in the England side has a delivery from a set-piece like Ward-Prowse. He knows what he’s here for: his set-piece talent is game-changing.
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