James Ward-Prowse

[Sir Ralph]

Played well. Made the right decisions throughout the game. Also he hasn’t played much football recently. Give him a run in the team and I think he will start to influence the game more.
 

i remember when his free kicks were a threat teams didn’t want to tackle our players around the edge of the area. That could help scienza

Edited yesterday at 11:55 by Sir Ralph

[Patches O Houlihan]

16 hours ago, Baird of the land said:

Hypondriac - Wonder if Tonda will try to fit jwp Downes and Jander into one team if they are all fit and firing. No doubt they are all in our top eleven best players.

Jwp is not.

Candidates for 'Best Eleven Players' in no particular order:

1) Jander

2) Downes

3) Azaz

4) Larin

5) Scienza

6) Schotterbeck

7) Peretz

8 ) Manning

9) Bree

So presumably besides all those players listed above you consider at least two (possibly more) of Matsuki, Fellows, Bragg, Stephens and Wood to be undeniably superior to JWP as well?

I would remind you that JWP has 11 England caps, and was sold a little over 3 years ago aged 28 for £30m. He has played more than 420 PL games, scoring 57 goals (a goal every 7.3 appearances)

 

He also is the second highest fee kick scorer (17) in Premier League history only one kick behind David Beckham, partly because they wouldn't count the goal he scored direct from a corner. Incidentally no one else is close to Beckham and JWP. Pep Guardiola (2020): "Ward-Prowse is the best free-kick taker I have seen in my life" (Messi scored 11 free kicks while playing for Pep at Barcelona 2008-2012)

in 2021, he became the first Premier League player to play every single minute of two consecutive Premier League seasons, and is still known for excellent fitness and stamina. He is now aged 31.

I completely take on board Ducky's Souness discussion. JWP is far from a complete player. But I really struggle to see the logic in your argument, particularly when mysteriously all the players around him have had an upturn in their effectiveness since he joined the team: Downes, Bragg, Wood, Fellows

We bought him for £800k FFS!

Edited yesterday at 13:48 by Patches O Houlihan
Messi stat

[23rdSaint]

2 hours ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Candidates for 'Best Eleven Players' in no particular order:

1) Jander

2) Downes

3) Azaz

4) Larin

5) Scienza

6) Schotterbeck

7) Peretz

8 ) Manning

9) Bree

So presumably besides all those players listed above you consider at least two (possibly more) of Matsuki, Fellows, Bragg, Stephens and Wood to be undeniably superior to JWP as well?

I would remind you that JWP has 11 England caps, and was sold a little over 3 years ago aged 28 for £30m. He has played more than 420 PL games, scoring 57 goals (a goal every 7.3 appearances)

 

He also is the second highest fee kick scorer (17) in Premier League history only one kick behind David Beckham, partly because they wouldn't count the goal he scored direct from a corner. Incidentally no one else is close to Beckham and JWP. Pep Guardiola (2020): "Ward-Prowse is the best free-kick taker I have seen in my life" (Messi scored 11 free kicks while playing for Pep at Barcelona 2008-2012)

in 2021, he became the first Premier League player to play every single minute of two consecutive Premier League seasons, and is still known for excellent fitness and stamina. He is now aged 31.

I completely take on board Ducky's Souness discussion. JWP is far from a complete player. But I really struggle to see the logic in your argument, particularly when mysteriously all the players around him have had an upturn in their effectiveness since he joined the team: Downes, Bragg, Wood, Fellows

We bought him for £800k FFS!

Getting the boring stock replies ready:

"Yeah, but he's a skate cunt"

"He plays crab football"

"He's past it"

Zzzzzzzzz. Good post – JWP easily in our top eleven players

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

So presumably besides all those players listed above you consider at least two (possibly more) of Matsuki, Fellows, Bragg, Stephens and Wood to be undeniably superior to JWP as well?

I notice you haven’t listed Ramsdale. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

30 minutes ago, 23rdSaint said:

JWP easily in our top eleven players

Totally irrelevant, he’s not in our top 2 central midfielders when everyone is fit. 

Edited yesterday at 16:34 by Lord Duckhunter

[23rdSaint]

21 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Totally irrelevant, he’s not in our top 2 central midfielders when everyone is fit. 

It was the original point, so not irrelevant. But you raise an otherwise valid point – is he in our top 2 CMs? Was Charles in our top 2 last season? I think most would say it depended on the scenario. And I think it's the same with JWP.

I like Downes and Jander together – they were great at the back end of last season. I think Downes plays deeper when he's next to Jander, whereas next to JWP, he plays further forward. And others on here have said JWP makes those around him better, which certainly appears to be the case.
 

Does that make him top 2? I'd personally rather Downes and Jander if I had to choose from a fully fit squad and with our current formation, but I'm certainly not going to complain if JWP is in the starting XI at one of the others' expense. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

You don’t change a winning team. Simple as that.

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

32 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

You don’t change a winning team. Simple as that.

What if they need to play in their away kit after a home win?

[Disco Stu]

5 hours ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Candidates for 'Best Eleven Players' in no particular order:

1) Jander

2) Downes

3) Azaz

4) Larin

5) Scienza

6) Schotterbeck

7) Peretz

8 ) Manning

9) Bree

So presumably besides all those players listed above you consider at least two (possibly more) of Matsuki, Fellows, Bragg, Stephens and Wood to be undeniably superior to JWP as well?

I would remind you that JWP has 11 England caps, and was sold a little over 3 years ago aged 28 for £30m. He has played more than 420 PL games, scoring 57 goals (a goal every 7.3 appearances)

 

He also is the second highest fee kick scorer (17) in Premier League history only one kick behind David Beckham, partly because they wouldn't count the goal he scored direct from a corner. Incidentally no one else is close to Beckham and JWP. Pep Guardiola (2020): "Ward-Prowse is the best free-kick taker I have seen in my life" (Messi scored 11 free kicks while playing for Pep at Barcelona 2008-2012)

in 2021, he became the first Premier League player to play every single minute of two consecutive Premier League seasons, and is still known for excellent fitness and stamina. He is now aged 31.

I completely take on board Ducky's Souness discussion. JWP is far from a complete player. But I really struggle to see the logic in your argument, particularly when mysteriously all the players around him have had an upturn in their effectiveness since he joined the team: Downes, Bragg, Wood, Fellows

We bought him for £800k FFS!

I'm not sure Manning and Bree are undeniably superior to JWP either tbh.

[West end Saints]

On 09/09/2026 at 17:34, Lord Duckhunter said:

Totally irrelevant, he’s not in our top 2 central midfielders when everyone is fit. 

If Jander is in form he is very good, but he had several games last season when his form dropped to a level that JWP would rarely drop to.

Jander is not as physically fit and consistent as JWP.

It's good to have both.

JWP was good against Swansea, better than I thought so soon after arriving and with so little first team football.

FD/JWP potentially the best CM pair in this league

[trousers]

12 minutes ago, West end Saints said:

If Jander is in form he is very good, but he had several games last season when his form dropped to a level that JWP would rarely drop to.

Jander is not as physically fit and consistent as JWP.

It's good to have both.

JWP was good against Swansea, better than I thought so soon after arriving and with so little first team football.

FD/JWP potentially the best CM pair in this league

I have been wondering of late that, in his absence, Jander seems to have been elevated to almost deity levels... Yes, he's obviously got something about him, and had some cracking performances last season but, as you say, he's also prone to being inconsistent, which is unsurprising given his age.

So I'm inclined to agree that Downes / JWP is probably our best pairing as things stand 👍🏻

Edited 2 hours ago by trousers

[Cuddles]

One thing Jander was superb at towards the end of last season was nicking the ball off opposing players and quickly bringing it forward. I do think we miss that a bit, so will be great to have different options soon.

[SWLondon Saint]

Tbh Jander plays better when he has license to go and be aggressive trying to win the ball, like we've seen Downes doing the last few games. If we have to play teams that dominate the midfield, I could see us playing with JWP behind Downes and Jander, like we set up against Coventry away last season with those 2 and Bragg.

[Saint Pete]

On 09/09/2026 at 17:34, Lord Duckhunter said:

Totally irrelevant, he’s not in our top 2 central midfielders when everyone is fit. 

That's your opinion, not fact. Downes is a fine midfielder at this level and he's back to his very best form now. But when he had the opportunity to play in the Premier Leage he was found wanting and had a poor season for us and also never made it there with West Ham. Jander is a promising player no doubt and is one of the few players in our current team who have the potential to one day make it at the higher level, but at the moment, potential is all it is. He is far from the finished product and as a reminder currently has the grand sum of 2 goals and 1 assist for us at Championship level. 

JWP, whether you like it and choose to acknowledge it or not, has proven himself to be a Premier League player, you don't get to play over 400 times at that level and score 57 times if you are not that. Granted it's debatable whether he could still do a job at that level now (so he's in the same boat as the other 2 there), but at 31, he can absolutely still do a great job at Championship level for us and I'm sure he will. 

I suspect Tonda will interchange the 3 of them once they are all fit throughout the season with Bragg there as another alternative when needed. But if we are posing the question of who will be in the top 2 for the biggest of games once they are all available, settled and fit, I would absolutely back JWP to be one of them based on the respective records and what I have seen of all 4.