In recent years in the Premier League, there have been very few who can match James Ward-Prowse when it comes to free-kicks.
The Southampton skipper has an astonishing 17 free-kick goals to his name currently, just one short of David Beckham’s Premier League record.
At 28 years of age, the midfielder is in his prime years as a footballer at the top level, but a move away from Saint Mary’s has never materialised — be that due to a lack of interest from other clubs or a desire to stay at his boyhood club.
There is, however, the potential for that to change this summer for a number of reasons.
The primary reason depends on how Southampton close out their season.
They are in danger of being relegated to the Championship for the first time since 2011-12, and if they suffer that fate this season, it may be the catalyst for Ward-Prowse’s departure.
This scout report will provide a tactical analysis of Ward-Prowse’s ability and the role he plays in Southampton’s tactics.
There will also be a discussion about how he benefits Southampton and the attributes that make him an important player, in their build-up play for example.
Finally, there will be an analysis of which clubs Ward-Prowse could join, based on playing style and club needs, and we will also highlight some possible replacements should he leave the club, using our in-house player similarity tool, xGold.
While James Ward-Prowse has been a member of the first team since 2012/13, we will be using his data since 2021/22 to paint a more current picture of his role.
James Ward-Prowse Postition & Style Of Play
James Ward-Prowse, now 28 years old, got his first taste of first-team football back in the 2011/12 season, making appearances in the FA Cup and League Cup — one in each to be exact.
The following season was Southampton’s first back in the top flight, and that is when we started seeing Ward-Prowse on a more regular basis.
As the years have gone by, Ward-Prowse has cemented himself in Premier League folklore thanks to his tremendous free-kick ability, and he has played a vital role in Southampton’s midfield.
At the time of writing, JWP has a total of 11 caps for England, scoring twice.
James Ward-Prowse Heat Map
His heatmap below gives us an idea of his position & role in a Southampton shirt.
While he has experience playing on the right flank in the past, Ward-Prowse has become a consistent figure in a central creative role.
As we can see from his heatmap, he doesn’t have a huge defensive presence in terms of playing deeper, and he rarely gets involved in the box when it comes to attacking.
In terms of categorising his position, he tends to play on the right side of the two central midfielders in a 4-4-2 or on the right side of the two deeper central midfielders in a 4-2-3-1.
As we will see, these positions also allow him to drift into the right flank to contribute to build up play.
He also likes to roam from left to right when his side has possession as he is often the link moving the ball from one third to the next.
The image above shows where you should expect to see Ward-Prowse when his team have possession in the opponent’s half.
His role, in a nutshell, is to play as a deep-lying playmaker, meaning he will always be close to the ball when it is in the midfield/defensive third as he looks to move play forward early in the move, but it also means that you will rarely see him drift forward to contribute later in the attack.
For example, you would see a more attacking midfielder move into the yellow zone as it is closer to the final third and unmarked by the opposition, but JWP remains deeper.
Here is another example of his positioning in possession: as the Saints break quickly down the right flank, Ward-Prowse remains deeper in midfield, not bursting forward to join the frontline — which is what you would expect of an attacking midfielder; you might even expect them to be closer to the halfway line.
Ward-Prowse’s position in these moments also provides defensive cover for those who have rushed forward.
Occasionally, Southampton will shake things up and deploy the set-piece specialist into a more advanced midfield role; this seems to happen more often in games where Southampton anticipate themselves having more possession higher up the pitch/games where they feel there will be more of a battle in that area of the pitch, so Ward-Prowse can collect the ball higher up and punish teams more directly in attack than he could in his deeper role.
The term “defensive midfielder” probably doesn’t spring to mind when you hear the name James Ward-Prowse, but when he is operating in the deeper midfield role in a three, or part of the two in a 4-4-2, he certainly has a lot of defensive responsibilities.
We will dive into some of the data behind his defensive contributions later on, but in terms of positioning, the image above mirrors what you would often see when the Saints are defending.
Not necessarily in terms of depth as this is dependent on a number of factors like the opponent in question, the match situation i.e scoreline, the opposition’s momentum and attacking position, for example.
However, in terms of being close to his midfield partner, that is consistent, as this adds cover and protection in central areas for the back four.
James Ward-Prowse Strengths
Ward-Prowse’s biggest quality is obviously his ability to score free-kicks more regularly than any other current Premier League player, but there isn’t really a great deal of in-depth analysis to be done there — you’d be better off simply watching a compilation of his free-kick goals to see his ability! However, there are other areas of his game that are an essential part of Southampton’s tactics.
His passing range is arguably his second-best attribute and below is an analysis of how JWP uses his vision and technical ability to aid the Saints in possession.
Following that, we will look at other areas of his game, while analysing some potential limitations in his arsenal.
If you ever watch Ward-Prowse over the course of multiple fixtures, you will notice that he has a real talent for making sudden and slight movements to make himself a better passing option for his teammates.
Scanning the surrounding area seems to be second nature to him, and that scanning informs those slight movements into space.
The image above shows his ability to incorporate his clever movement into Southampton’s possession, playing an intricate one-two combination with his teammate down the right flank.
However, the return pass from JWP wasn’t as easy as you may think — it wasn’t a simple ground pass as the opposition had that line blocked.
Ward-Prowse knew he couldn’t take the ball and turn inside as that would be turning into danger, so completing the one-two combination was really the only solution, and this is where we see moments of innovation from the England international.
He scooped the ball over the two Manchester United players in his way, lofting the ball into his teammate’s path.
Not many players would even think of attempting that pass in a potentially dangerous area here.
This analysis gives us another example of Ward-Prowse using good spacial awareness to inform his next move, but this time in the opposition half with the majority of the opponent’s team behind the ball.
Ward-Prowse plays the pass inside to his midfield teammate and is likely already expecting the pass to be returned.
What we see next is quick thinking with quick reactions to that thinking.
Ward-Prowse signals to his teammate to hold the ball for another moment before returning the ball and the Saints skipper shifts a few yards away from his initial position to make himself more open — he was able to receive the ball with much less pressure on him.
What followed upon the ball being returned to JWP was a crisp cross-field pass into a dangerous area on the left flank, an action that Ward-Prowse would not have been able to execute without that previous movement into space.
James Ward-Prowse Shot Assists
This is the stat that could cause debate: his assists.
Since the beginning of last season, Ward-Prowse has registered six assists in the Premier League — two of them have occurred this season.
Now, it would be easy to jump right in and criticise these numbers and say that Ward-Prowse needs more assists on his record.
While he would probably like the number to be higher than six, and while that would likely boost his reputation, there are factors to consider here.
Firstly, his role — which, as we saw earlier, is often deeper in midfield — means he contributes more to the early phases in Southampton attacks rather than later on, especially this season when the Saints are fighting for survival and have had less possession.
We must also consider what the image above is showing us.
He does provide chances in the final third, and his xA is over double the number of assists at 12.41.
This suggests to us that the quality within Southampton’s ranks is impacting JWP’s numbers, but he essentially has the ability to create chances, often either from corners or when crossing from deep on either flank.
Ward-Prowse’s passing range is something that Southampton will certainly miss should the midfielder depart this summer.
His fast thinking goes hand in hand with this attribute as he is able to control the ball and know instantly where his next pass will go.
The quickness in his execution can also hurt the opposition as they have to react quicker, which can be difficult when the ball shifts quickly from one third to another.
James Ward-Prowse Progressive Passes
Making important passes that shift the ball over a large distance quickly is something that Ward-Prowse loves to do.
A lot of the time, this does benefit his side, but there are times, particularly in deeper areas after a duel has occurred, he will rush a long or progressive pass, which can hurt the Saints’ possession.
On a positive note, though, he has the consistency to provide accurate progressive passes into the penalty area, which is key for a team like Southampton who are unlikely to play their way through a team the way Manchester City might.
In terms of his numbers when it comes to passing range, Ward-Prowse averages 7.23 passes to the final third per 90, with an accuracy rate of 76.8%.
A good number of those passes will look similar to the one above, especially in terms of distance — he averages 3.11 long passes per 90: 42.5% of them being accurate.
Ward-Prowse’s deeper role in midfield sometimes means that he joins attacks late on, adding another passing option to a Southampton attack.
While a good number of his goals have come from free-kicks over the years, he does have a mean long shot in the locker, which comes in most useful in situations where he does join an attack late.
Take the image above, for example.
He joins late, with Brighton’s defence forced into their own box and with very little midfield presence and organisation.
He receives the ball in the form of a lay-off via a backheel from his teammate — a ball like something out of a centre midfielder’s dream.
In moments like this, the majority of central midfielders are going to approach the ball and strike it first time, rather than trying to work the ball into the box through a series of extra passes.
And why wouldn’t you if you have the striking ability of JWP?
James Ward-Prowse Shots Map
Since the start of last season, Ward-Prowse has scored 12 non-penalty goals (including free-kicks), a decent return for a player in a side in the bottom half of the league.
His shot map from inside the box confirms our previous point about him rarely spearheading attacks from the start, but four goals from five shots inside the box is a clinical return.
As the map shows us, he is not scared to take a shot outside the box.
While this is one of the key factors of his game, moving to a team higher up the table to attack with a more structured system based on possession might see the number of long shots drop off.
As we mentioned earlier, Ward-Prowse isn’t the first name you might think of when discussing defensive midfielders, but he is an important figure in the Saints’ engine room.
He possesses good overall fitness qualities, meaning he can contribute off the ball for the full 90 minutes, but it also means the has the capacity to chase down the opponent and make a positive impact in wider areas as well as central areas.
This is what we see above.
Arsenal move the ball down the left flank, with poor defensive reactions from Southampton leaving JWP outnumbered in that area.
Instinctively, he starts to close down the man on the ball but quickly realises the danger down the flank and begins to retract that press.
He doesn’t possess natural raw pace, but he does possess immense fight and determination to get back and put in a successful challenge on the Arsenal man on the flank before he gets into the box.
He isn’t limited to defending in his own defensive third.
As you know, games sometimes unfold in a way that sees certain tactical and positional aspects of a team’s approach either alter or simply become less present.
As a result of this notion, combined with the occasional more advanced role JWP plays, we see him applying his defensive traits higher up the pitch.
Let’s not get things twisted, we aren’t suggesting that Ward-Prowse is one of the top defensive midfielders in the league, nor are we suggesting that he is a pressing machine, but he has displayed defensive qualities in various areas of the pitch.
Since the start of last season, he has made 116 high regains, which shows a steady consistency in terms of getting involved in duels higher up the pitch — a good amount of this total resulted in a Saints show within 20 seconds.
He does have an excellent return in terms of counterpressing recoveries, particularly in wide areas and the fact that he can achieve this over both flanks and in central areas is a credit to his work rate.
Finally, it is worth noting that Ward-Prowse isn’t one for dribbling all that often.
This season, he has averaged 0.56 dribblers per 90 (47.4% successful) so it is clearly not one of his strengths — or at least something that he doesn’t rely on.
His passing, and the ability to bring teammates into play, is where his focus lies.
James Ward-Prowse Transfer Options
So, who would Ward-Prowse join if he was to leave Southampton this summer?
There are certain factors to consider from both parties (JWP and the potential club).
Currently, his market value is listed at £34m, but whether or not the Saints command that fee is dependent on their future.
Should they go down, expect that fee to drop, but if they stay up, don’t be surprised to see it rise.
In honesty, it is unlikely that we see him join a Liverpool or Manchester City — but the top four might not be completely out of bounds.
He has been linked with Arsenal in the past and his qualities in possession may still be of interest to Mikel Arteta if they are in search of a central midfielder.
Additionally, a side like Brighton may suit Ward-Prowse’s skill set, but they are very particular and thorough when it comes to player recruitment, so they may believe they can find a similar player elsewhere for a lower fee.
Tottenham and Manchester United have both been linked to the midfielder before, and both could still be viable options.
Both sides could have a case for bringing a player like JWP in.
He could be the link between Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes for United, with his rounded skillset allowing the Portugal international to have more focus on his attacking game.
Spurs, meanwhile, could find a place for him in their midfield.
They have a high number of attacking midfielders and wingers, but Ward-Prowse could be a useful addition in the deeper regions of midfield, as although they do already have a good presence with Yves Bissouma and Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg but lack strength in depth — something that Ward-Prowse could provide.
If he leaves, Southampton will be desperate to replace him, but it is unlikely that they splash the cash in doing so, especially if they are relegated this season.
With that in mind, we believe that they could look for solutions in the EFL Championship, and with that in mind, we have used xGold to highlight some players who are like Ward-Prowse from that division.
While it is possible that they could look in other leagues for a replacement, this league is likely going to be of interest to the decision-makers at the club as the fee would not be so high.
James Ward-Prowse Potential Replacements
The top three players from the Championship in terms of similarity rating by xGold are listed below:
Lewis Baker Scout Report
Lewis Baker is a 27-year-old midfielder who currently plays for Stoke City.
Has been a vital part of their team this season, playing 42 times so far.
In that time, he has scored seven goals and registered five assists, highlighting a real attacking quality from midfield.
The Chelsea academy graduate joined Stoke in January 2022 after a cluster of loan spells that included stints at Leeds, Reading, and Trabzonspor to name a few.
His current market value stands at £2.7m.
While he may not possess the star quality or reputation that Ward-Prowse could, Baker could be a solid addition to the Southampton lineup due to his rounded skill set — especially if they are a Championship club next season.
Tommy Doyle Scout Report
Tommy Doyle is a 21-year-old who has enjoyed mixed fortunes on loan at Sheffield United this season.
the Manchester City loanee has featured 29 times in the league, bagging three goals.
Prior to this loan move, Doyle has enjoyed loan spells at fellow Championship club Cardiff City and German club Hamburg.
There is a bigger risk factor to this move due to his limited game time this season.
He may be a loan option if Southampton go down: his market value currently sits at £4.5m.
He is also a former EnglanfdU21 international.
Imran Louza Scout Report
Imran Louza is a 23-year-old Moroccan midfielder who plays for Watford.
He has featured 19 times this season, scoring four goals and grabbing two assists.
He has versatility in his locker as he is able to play in either a deeper or more advanced role, something that may interest the Saints.
He joined Watford in 2021 for £8.9 from French club Nantes, and his current market value stands at £8m.
Southampton may look to see if he plays a bigger part in Watford’s team next season before making a move due to his limited appearances, but he certainly does share some similarities with JWP.
Obviously, there are plenty of other options for Southampton to explore across multiple leagues, these three are just the top three from the Championship in terms of similarity to Ward-Prowse according to xGold.
They may look to make a marquee signing in replacing JWP, investing a large chunk of their transfer budget into one player, or they may look to spread the budget over several players and look to bring in a cheaper replacement, or even a loan from one of the big Premier League clubs.
Conclusion
James Ward-Prowse undoubtedly has the skill set to compete at a club in the top half of the Premier League, but his love for the Saints may overrule the desire to play at that level.
At 28, he has to consider in which direction he wants his career to go — he may just be happy to see his career out with his boyhood club.
It would be refreshing to see a player choose the love of a club over money or club status as we don’t get many one-club players at the top level these days.
Expect interest in him from other clubs to increase in the event of Southampton’s relegation, but don’t be shocked if he opts to explore other options even if the Saints stay up.
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