JWP

I remember everyone talking about how good David Prutton was for the England U21's, he turned out to be a pretty crap Premier League player too.

 

I'd obviously like JWP to do well for us, but the fact is he is average at best, and if people genuinely believe he is going to be a future Saints captain and a midfield maestro for us, I can only assume that means we won't be in the Prem for much longer. I'm sure he's an honest likeable bloke, but a club aiming to be amongst the best should be looking at a higher calibre of player.

 

Theres no way he'd have made over 150 appearances for us if he hadn't come through our academy.

What finally put me off him, apart from the fact he contributes little on the pitch, was when he sang Play Up Pompey at Southampton Central Station to wind up Saints fans before the Arsenal game. He and his entire family are keen Pompey fans and it sometimes makes me wonder how much he really wants to score goals for us when he puts yet another of those free-kicks from scoring positions a yard wide of the goal. I've never got the impression that he is exactly prepared to bust a gut for a Saints victory. Get rid of him and we might find he makes a bit more of an effort for another club.

I remember everyone talking about how good David Prutton was for the England U21's, he turned out to be a pretty crap Premier League player too.

 

I'd obviously like JWP to do well for us, but the fact is he is average at best, and if people genuinely believe he is going to be a future Saints captain and a midfield maestro for us, I can only assume that means we won't be in the Prem for much longer. I'm sure he's an honest likeable bloke, but a club aiming to be amongst the best should be looking at a higher calibre of player.

 

Theres no way he'd have made over 150 appearances for us if he hadn't come through our academy.

I think this might break the forum - we've found something everyone can agree on!

Is it Maya Yoshida's turn again next week or someone else!?!

If he was as bad as some on here make out, he would have been shipped out by now, if it's not the playground flock of sheep hounding this player or that player, it's the playstation masters of FIFA whatever who know everything about football through beating toddlers with ease over 90 minutes before every bedtime.

 

.............then of course it could be the Dušan Tadic singers who let him flatter to deceive-simply because he waved at them twice for singing his name.

By all means defend JWP, but to criticise Tadic as 'flattering to deceive' while doing so is utterly bizarre.

JWP is an odd one, if you look at him exclusively you see someone who can control, pass, move the ball. He receives it well on both feet and is always available for a pass etc, but he just doesn't put his mark on games at all. I honestly stand by what I've always thought, the tools are there technically...it's just physically hes behind. He's still not an old player by any means and he could still well bulk up a bit. I think he'd be perfect in a Spanish league or a league where it's less physical and more slow/passing.

There's definitely talent there and you wouldn't have had 4 different managers picking him if there wasn't, he just needs to start taking games by the scruff of it's neck and dominating. Just worry that he doesn't have the physical attributes to be able to do that in this league.

JWP is an odd one, if you look at him exclusively you see someone who can control, pass, move the ball. He receives it well on both feet and is always available for a pass etc, but he just doesn't put his mark on games at all. I honestly stand by what I've always thought, the tools are there technically...it's just physically hes behind. He's still not an old player by any means and he could still well bulk up a bit. I think he'd be perfect in a Spanish league or a league where it's less physical and more slow/passing.

 

There's definitely talent there and you wouldn't have had 4 different managers picking him if there wasn't, he just needs to start taking games by the scruff of it's neck and dominating. Just worry that he doesn't have the physical attributes to be able to do that in this league.

He's mobile enough to make a difference though. So even if if he isn't as powerful as many and that impacts his ability to compete in the air, beat a man and tackle his mobility shouldn't stop him from being able to find space and do something productive with the ball. If I look at the likes of Fabregas and Cazorla they aren't particularly quick or powerful but they are skillful, and because JWP isn't particularly skillful it really impacts what he can do with the ball. So I think it is just as much his skill as it is his physical attributes.

I still think he needs an identity as a player. When he plays I am not sure what sort of player he is trying to be (or indeed is). His range of passing seems limited (tactically, self-imposed or just capability) from what I thought it may have been at one time. In the final third he isn't creative enough, and in the other two thirds of the pitch I'm never sure what he is trying to achieve being simply recycling the ball. I have seen him try to pass the ball forwards more this season to be fair, but from memory it has only been really obvious passes rather than anything to break the lines creatively.

He goes as the team does. When the team plays well he contributes but never stands out. When the team is struggling he's never someone who has a better game - he always struggles to make an impact.

He has loads of experience but that doesn't always mean progress should be linear - though it is getting to crunch time with him I think.

He's mobile enough to make a difference though. So even if if he isn't as powerful as many and that impacts his ability to compete in the air, beat a man and tackle his mobility shouldn't stop him from being able to find space and do something productive with the ball. If I look at the likes of Fabregas and Cazorla they aren't particularly quick or powerful but they are skillful, and because JWP isn't particularly skillful it really impacts what he can do with the ball. So I think it is just as much his skill as it is his physical attributes.

 

I still think he needs an identity as a player. When he plays I am not sure what sort of player he is trying to be (or indeed is). His range of passing seems limited (tactically, self-imposed or just capability) from what I thought it may have been at one time. In the final third he isn't creative enough, and in the other two thirds of the pitch I'm never sure what he is trying to achieve being simply recycling the ball. I have seen him try to pass the ball forwards more this season to be fair, but from memory it has only been really obvious passes rather than anything to break the lines creatively.

 

He goes as the team does. When the team plays well he contributes but never stands out. When the team is struggling he's never someone who has a better game - he always struggles to make an impact.

 

He has loads of experience but that doesn't always mean progress should be linear - though it is getting to crunch time with him I think.

I like where your coming from in Fab/Cazo context ,never really looks like a player the opposition are likely to fear .Still dont get why all the commentators harp on about his set piece delivery ,bulscrap really still.....but to be fair non of our top midfield players contribute a goal threat.

Well it seems I've accidentally dropped into a JWP hate -fest.

 

To everyone saying he's a bad player, a slow player, a weak player, an ineffective player I say you don't captain your country at under21's to a Toulon trophy if you are that bad.Saints tactics do not play to his strengths.

 

He plays a very specific expert role for England and it suits his game and has been very successful in it and so has England indeed such that he is virtually first name on the sheet. He plays as quarterback just ahead of an athletic backline and is there to keep the ball rotating be available for a simple pass from the defenders and then give it to the pacey skillful powerful young England forwards to bosh it into the net. He takes every corner and free kick and penalties. Crap players do not do that. A manager with less pressure twenty thirty years ago might make the team play around this kind of home grown talent rather than make him play alternate games fitting into a system with a load of imports.

 

Mark my words: JWP will be a full England International. If he stays at Saints which i sincerely hope he will captain Southampton and be club captain for a long long time and one day he will be our new Manager - in 2030 to be precise. And he IS one of our own, Saints through and through and you ought to be goddamn proud we have a genuine bloke and player like that at our club in this day and age of disloyal uncommitted fake cheating over hyped lazy mercenaries.

He was a skate season ticket holder. What on earth are you going on about?

He couldn't be less 'saints through and through' if he tried.

Checking out some stats and there's some pretty interesting stuff to see.

When compared to the rest of our midfield players he puts in the least tackles per game and attempts the lowest amount of passes (by some distance), suggesting he spends less time on the ball than the others and tends to go missing in games. He's also the second worst for dribbling completed in front on Clasie.

However, it turns out he's our best option for completing key passes which came as a bit of a surprise to me.

Romeu's tackles per game aside, one other clear detail that can be seen is that Hojbjerg is statistically our best midfielder.

Is that Giordano a club plant or is his comment tongue in cheek. If anybody watches Prowse when defending, he actually never tackles or intercepts at all. Useless Championship standard at best.

He was a skate season ticket holder. What on earth are you going on about?

 

He couldn't be less 'saints through and through' if he tried.

can we swap him for Mark Noble?

can we swap him for Mark Noble?

Don't know, aren't we waiting for a mega offer from Manchester for him ??

Don't know, aren't we waiting for a mega offer from Manchester for him ??

Maybe the journo's have it all wrong - it's JWP that the scouts have been drooling over and who's being lined up for a mega money move to citeh and not VVD?!

Maybe the journo's have it all wrong - it's JWP that the scouts have been drooling over and who's being lined up for a mega money move to citeh and not VVD?!

"Southampton player with name frequently abbreviated to three initials set for big club move"

He was a skate season ticket holder. What on earth are you going on about?

 

He couldn't be less 'saints through and through' if he tried.

JWP has been at Southampton Academy then full club since he was 8 years old playing in every age category. About 14 years! If there is one player at the club in the first team that's Saints through and through and represents the best of the Southampton Way its him. James Ward Prowse. Decent bloke, very very good footballer and excellent role model to kids considering playing for Saints. I honestly don't know whats has possessed you keyboard warriors to have a hate-in on him ~ are you really so keen to suggest being born in Portsmouth to Portsmouth fans as meaning he is a skate for life? Jeez i expect you hate Bobby Stokes too....Do you know how many Saints fans live and work in the PO postcode? That have blue relatives partners even sons or daughters? Are they all skates too? You probably don't ( i do not know but its not zero put it that way as my saints supporting girlfriend lives in Gosport and there's plenty Saints fans there i can assure you, though we keep a different profile at times) but it's irrelevant anyway as it sounds better on a cyber lynch mob to dismiss JWP as being s far away from being a saint as is possible due to the accident of birth in a one-liner.

I've followed Saints 53 years of my life home and away and have experienced the delights of fratton park and saints pfc games complete with concrete ticker tape parades and friendly meetings to discuss crochet so am under no illusions about the blind hatred that does exist on both sides. But turning on JWP with this skate trash talk is poor fare. Having said that, and here's the one you will like, there's a awful lot of low-lifes using support for Southampton FC as an excuse to avoid the anger management classes they really ought to be going on and especially when he and we have not scored or won a while the anger builds up and its nice to metaphorically kick the **** out of some bloke cos hes born in portsmouth even if the truth is hes done more for Southampton, the team the city and England than many here will ever do. And still does. Give yourselves a break from being nasty. Lifes not that bad.

JWP has been at Southampton Academy then full club since he was 8 years old playing in every age category. About 14 years! If there is one player at the club in the first team that's Saints through and through and represents the best of the Southampton Way its him. James Ward Prowse. Decent bloke, very very good footballer and excellent role model to kids considering playing for Saints. I honestly don't know whats has possessed you keyboard warriors to have a hate-in on him ~ are you really so keen to suggest being born in Portsmouth to Portsmouth fans as meaning he is a skate for life? Jeez i expect you hate Bobby Stokes too....Do you know how many Saints fans live and work in the PO postcode? That have blue relatives partners even sons or daughters? Are they all skates too? You probably don't ( i do not know but its not zero put it that way as my saints supporting girlfriend lives in Gosport and there's plenty Saints fans there i can assure you, though we keep a different profile at times) but it's irrelevant anyway as it sounds better on a cyber lynch mob to dismiss JWP as being s far away from being a saint as is possible due to the accident of birth in a one-liner.

 

I've followed Saints 53 years of my life home and away and have experienced the delights of fratton park and saints pfc games complete with concrete ticker tape parades and friendly meetings to discuss crochet so am under no illusions about the blind hatred that does exist on both sides. But turning on JWP with this skate trash talk is poor fare. Having said that, and here's the one you will like, there's a awful lot of low-lifes using support for Southampton FC as an excuse to avoid the anger management classes they really ought to be going on and especially when he and we have not scored or won a while the anger builds up and its nice to metaphorically kick the **** out of some bloke cos hes born in portsmouth even if the truth is hes done more for Southampton, the team the city and England than many here will ever do. And still does. Give yourselves a break from being nasty. Lifes not that bad.

I, for one, think you have brought him up very well.

I, for one, think you have brought him up very well.

My first thoughts as well reading that

Those little dogs on the advertising boards always overtake him

My first thoughts as well reading that

Bloke isn't a Skate supporter or related to JWP, just has a high opinion (perhaps too much so) of the club's youth products.

Manages a health club somewhere in Surrey IIRC. Perhaps JWP is a member there.

JWP has been at Southampton Academy then full club since he was 8 years old playing in every age category. About 14 years! If there is one player at the club in the first team that's Saints through and through and represents the best of the Southampton Way its him. James Ward Prowse. Decent bloke, very very good footballer and excellent role model to kids considering playing for Saints. I honestly don't know whats has possessed you keyboard warriors to have a hate-in on him ~ are you really so keen to suggest being born in Portsmouth to Portsmouth fans as meaning he is a skate for life? Jeez i expect you hate Bobby Stokes too....Do you know how many Saints fans live and work in the PO postcode? That have blue relatives partners even sons or daughters? Are they all skates too? You probably don't ( i do not know but its not zero put it that way as my saints supporting girlfriend lives in Gosport and there's plenty Saints fans there i can assure you, though we keep a different profile at times) but it's irrelevant anyway as it sounds better on a cyber lynch mob to dismiss JWP as being s far away from being a saint as is possible due to the accident of birth in a one-liner.

 

I've followed Saints 53 years of my life home and away and have experienced the delights of fratton park and saints pfc games complete with concrete ticker tape parades and friendly meetings to discuss crochet so am under no illusions about the blind hatred that does exist on both sides. But turning on JWP with this skate trash talk is poor fare. Having said that, and here's the one you will like, there's a awful lot of low-lifes using support for Southampton FC as an excuse to avoid the anger management classes they really ought to be going on and especially when he and we have not scored or won a while the anger builds up and its nice to metaphorically kick the **** out of some bloke cos hes born in portsmouth even if the truth is hes done more for Southampton, the team the city and England than many here will ever do. And still does. Give yourselves a break from being nasty. Lifes not that bad.

Whilst being somewhat disappointed about JWP's progress with the Saints and consider there are better options available (at a price), I have to agree in essence with your comments.

I have never felt that JWP has ever put in less than a full shift in a Saints shirt.

He is an intelligent lad who always stays on the pitch to applaud the crowd, whether his (and the team's) performance has been good, bad or indifferent.

I appreciate this means little to most supporters after a crap display but at last he doesnt skulk off straight to the dressing room as is the case with some of his team mates.

Perhaps I am old fashioned but I would prefer to keep my criticism of players to myself, or shared in a reasonable way with other supporters, rather than give out criticism either verbally or via internet postings.

We all want players to do their best for our club and scapegoating of individuals does little to inspire confidence which is a great asset for many players.

Well it seems I've accidentally dropped into a JWP hate -fest.

 

To everyone saying he's a bad player, a slow player, a weak player, an ineffective player I say you don't captain your country at under21's to a Toulon trophy if you are that bad.Saints tactics do not play to his strengths.

 

He plays a very specific expert role for England and it suits his game and has been very successful in it and so has England indeed such that he is virtually first name on the sheet. He plays as quarterback just ahead of an athletic backline and is there to keep the ball rotating be available for a simple pass from the defenders and then give it to the pacey skillful powerful young England forwards to bosh it into the net. He takes every corner and free kick and penalties. Crap players do not do that. A manager with less pressure twenty thirty years ago might make the team play around this kind of home grown talent rather than make him play alternate games fitting into a system with a load of imports.

 

Mark my words: JWP will be a full England International. If he stays at Saints which i sincerely hope he will captain Southampton and be club captain for a long long time and one day he will be our new Manager - in 2030 to be precise. And he IS one of our own, Saints through and through and you ought to be goddamn proud we have a genuine bloke and player like that at our club in this day and age of disloyal uncommitted fake cheating over hyped lazy mercenaries.

This

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Those little dogs on the advertising boards always overtake him

did you come up with that yourself, as it made me smile.

JWP has been at Southampton Academy then full club since he was 8 years old playing in every age category. About 14 years! If there is one player at the club in the first team that's Saints through and through and represents the best of the Southampton Way its him. James Ward Prowse. Decent bloke, very very good footballer and excellent role model to kids considering playing for Saints. I honestly don't know whats has possessed you keyboard warriors to have a hate-in on him ~ are you really so keen to suggest being born in Portsmouth to Portsmouth fans as meaning he is a skate for life? Jeez i expect you hate Bobby Stokes too....Do you know how many Saints fans live and work in the PO postcode? That have blue relatives partners even sons or daughters? Are they all skates too? You probably don't ( i do not know but its not zero put it that way as my saints supporting girlfriend lives in Gosport and there's plenty Saints fans there i can assure you, though we keep a different profile at times) but it's irrelevant anyway as it sounds better on a cyber lynch mob to dismiss JWP as being s far away from being a saint as is possible due to the accident of birth in a one-liner.

 

I've followed Saints 53 years of my life home and away and have experienced the delights of fratton park and saints pfc games complete with concrete ticker tape parades and friendly meetings to discuss crochet so am under no illusions about the blind hatred that does exist on both sides. But turning on JWP with this skate trash talk is poor fare. Having said that, and here's the one you will like, there's a awful lot of low-lifes using support for Southampton FC as an excuse to avoid the anger management classes they really ought to be going on and especially when he and we have not scored or won a while the anger builds up and its nice to metaphorically kick the **** out of some bloke cos hes born in portsmouth even if the truth is hes done more for Southampton, the team the city and England than many here will ever do. And still does. Give yourselves a break from being nasty. Lifes not that bad.

He's a skate, would have much preferred to have been going through their youth system, if it wasn't absolutely terrible. His Dad isn't stupid though, and realised from an early age that we were the best place for him.

It's easy to be 'saints through and through' when we are providing him a massive PL wage for Championship standard performances.

Had his chance to prove he was above championship standard tonight and imo didn't....

Had his chance to prove he was above championship standard tonight and imo didn't....

I'm starting to agree with this. JWP is honest, works hard and has great set piece delivery. But he just doesn't seem sharp, quick or strong enough for Premiership. Still got time though.

He's a solid mid table Premier League midfielder. Nothing more, nothing less. Why is there so much pressure on him? He really isn't half as bad as people make out. Is it because a load of people touted him as the next England captain a few years back? Poor lad is a scapegoat.

Made it into super Pundit Garth crooks team of the week

In the meantime, Southampton have worked their way through a very difficult period and as a result unearthed a new Morgan Schneiderlin. Every time I see Ward-Prowse play, he gets better and better and he was the architect of Leicester's downfall. That said, if Leicester are serious about staying in the Premier League, they should seriously consider how they manage their Champions League fixtures because they can't succeed in both.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38711481

What finally put me off him, apart from the fact he contributes little on the pitch, was when he sang Play Up Pompey at Southampton Central Station to wind up Saints fans before the Arsenal game. He and his entire family are keen Pompey fans and it sometimes makes me wonder how much he really wants to score goals for us when he puts yet another of those free-kicks from scoring positions a yard wide of the goal. I've never got the impression that he is exactly prepared to bust a gut for a Saints victory. Get rid of him and we might find he makes a bit more of an effort for another club.

So JWP misses on purpose because he is a Pompey fan - it's official this forum has jumped the shark.

What finally put me off him, apart from the fact he contributes little on the pitch, was when he sang Play Up Pompey at Southampton Central Station to wind up Saints fans before the Arsenal game. He and his entire family are keen Pompey fans and it sometimes makes me wonder how much he really wants to score goals for us when he puts yet another of those free-kicks from scoring positions a yard wide of the goal. I've never got the impression that he is exactly prepared to bust a gut for a Saints victory. Get rid of him and we might find he makes a bit more of an effort for another club.

Really? Seems surprising he would do that.

He's a skate, would have much preferred to have been going through their youth system, if it wasn't absolutely terrible. His Dad isn't stupid though, and realised from an early age that we were the best place for him.

 

It's easy to be 'saints through and through' when we are providing him a massive PL wage for Championship standard performances.

As the song says - 'Used to be a skate but he's all right now' - Difficult to be a skate season ticket holder when you're playing Southampton Academy football every weekend from age 8.

I ferking hate the skates but the lad has a Saints shirt and he plays his heart out every week and has done for nearly 15 years, he'll do for me...particularly as I don't subscribe to the view that because he didn't 'burst on the scene', rather has developed under our noses that he isn't Improving all the time - we're lucky to have him.

Really? Seems surprising he would do that.

Yep, I didn't believe that either.

Some top bellendery on this thread.

Looks like he's buffering most of the time but always puts a shift in and is more Saints 'through and through' than a lot of the melts on here.

He's a solid mid table Premier League midfielder. Nothing more, nothing less. Why is there so much pressure on him? He really isn't half as bad as people make out. Is it because a load of people touted him as the next England captain a few years back? Poor lad is a scapegoat.

Absolutely. At the start we thought he might be a wonderkid, and though he hasn't become a world beater he's more than earned his game time for a good club. Whether or not he reaches the next level - and there is talent there - he deserves more respect than he gets.

It doesn't help that some of the qualities needed for his position are harder to notice when you're watching games as a fan.

Made it into super Pundit Garth crooks team of the week

 

In the meantime, Southampton have worked their way through a very difficult period and as a result unearthed a new Morgan Schneiderlin. Every time I see Ward-Prowse play, he gets better and better and he was the architect of Leicester's downfall. That said, if Leicester are serious about staying in the Premier League, they should seriously consider how they manage their Champions League fixtures because they can't succeed in both.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38711481

 

Garth Crooks is an absolutely terrible pundit. Fair play to Prowsey though. Feel that he's really kicked on this season.

Kewon reckons JWP is Beckham like...

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/581008/James-Ward-Prowse-Southampton-David-Beckham-Martin-Keown-Match-of-the-Day-2

Doing pretty well this morning is James. The new Morgan and Beckham like. Hope it fires him up to put in more performances like yesterday.

Garth Crooks is an absolutely terrible pundit. Fair play to Prowsey though. Feel that he's really kicked on this season.

Crooks is probably the worst pundit ever his team of the week stuff is normally cringe worthy. Still made me laugh this morning.

It's a funny situation with JWP, lots here who see him week in week out don't seem to rate him but the wider footballing world still seem to think he has the potential to be a top class player. I'll be interested to see where his career takes him he's had a lot of game time here and a lot of under 21's experience but that doesn't mean his career won't fizzle out. I don't think he will ever make it o the very top but I expect him to be Mat Oakley kind of figure for us, solid hard working and always on the verge of international recognition if only he could add a few more goals to his game. He is the sort of academy graduate we will hold onto the stellar ones will always go but hopefully we will produce enough solid ones to keep a backbone in the team.

Kewon reckons JWP is Beckham like...

 

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/581008/James-Ward-Prowse-Southampton-David-Beckham-Martin-Keown-Match-of-the-Day-2

 

Doing pretty well this morning is James the new Morgan and Beckham like. Hope it fires him up to put in more performances like yesterday.

Although perhaps obvious because of the free kick shooting style, it's an interesting comparison to make because Beckham didn't have any pace either, yet still thrived in the top flight. Whether JWP really has that same talent I'm not sure. At the same age Beckham had already taken the Premiership by storm, but then again players develop differently and at different speeds. Most fans know that patience is needed with young players, but we have been spoilt with the likes of Walcott, Bale, Chamberlain and Shaw all being outstanding from their very first games. Because of that we perhaps expect all our players to shine straight away.

The fact is Prowse has the first touch and confidence to play at this level - and those two facets alone were enough for management to invest heavily in him with the new contract. For that investment to pay off his role now needs to be clearly defined, he must be more physical and make more impact on games in the final third.

Although perhaps obvious because of the free kick shooting style, it's an interesting comparison to make because Beckham didn't have any pace either, yet still thrived in the top flight. Whether JWP really has that same talent I'm not sure. At the same age Beckham had already taken the Premiership by storm, but then again players develop differently and at different speeds. Most fans know that patience is needed with young players, but we have been spoilt with the likes of Walcott, Bale, Chamberlain and Shaw all being outstanding from their very first games. Because of that we perhaps expect all our players to shine straight away.

 

The fact is Prowse has the first touch and confidence to play at this level - and those two facets alone were enough for management to invest heavily in him with the new contract. For that investment to pay off his role now needs to be clearly defined, he must be more physical and make more impact on games in the final third.

Agreed. One thing I've noticed is that while his touch is good, his best end product seems to come from hitting things first time, particularly crosses from the 18 yard line.

I think we can all agree JWP needs consistency of performance.

It's been a long time between drinks since his last great performance in milan.

For a guy who gets as many minutes as he does he should be having more games like this and whilst he is young he has played over 150 games for us so I don't think can be used as a reason anymore.

That's more like it . Yesterday is the standard he should be producing week in week out. If that becomes his minimum level rather than his best , I may have to eat humble pie . Let's see him do it against the big boys before going overboard but he's earnt a start weds IMO

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Bump.

He was fantastic before he went off injured against Liverpool. Finally becoming the player a lot of us knew he was going to be.

His last two games, he has been excellent, he affected the game more, however, he needs to keep it up for longer.