Over the course of the last few England squads, the name of James Ward-Prowse has been consistently missing.
By Jason Pettigrove
Gareth Southgate has tended to pick his squads on merit rather than name – Kalvin Phillips being one obvious exception to that rule – though hasn’t seen fit to find a spot for the former Southampton stalwart.
That’s despite the fact that the 29-year-old West Ham ace has been playing some of the best football of his career with the East London outfit.
It’s left many supporters and pundits scratching their heads at what the player has to do to even be considered as part of a future Southgate selection, let along knocking on the door for a place in the European Championship squad to go to Germany this summer.
Always known as a dead-ball specialist, many of the goals that have been scored by David Moyes’ side during the 2023/24 campaign have been created by Ward-Prowse.
Indeed, at this point of the season, he’s already delivered six assists, the same as Man City’s Phil Foden, who has recently played in the No. 10 role that Ward-Prowse might be expected to inhabit for the national team.
That’s also one more than Tottenham Hotspur’s James Maddison, who has also played in the role behind the striker in one of Southgate’s latest XIs.
Nine goals and assists puts him at 25th in the English top-flight, though that’s still one G/A better than Maddison and only two behind Foden who is placed 13th in that particular list.
Jordan Henderson is another to have been played in a central role, more so when Southgate has gone with a 4-3-3 formation, and he might’ve been considered a shoo-in for the Euros at the start of the season.
However, his brief, but awful time in Saudi Arabia has to have Southgate looking twice before deciding to allow one of his most trusted generals a seat on the plane.
No goals at all and only six shots in the half a season that he stayed in the country is a damning indictment of just how far off the pace Henderson has fallen, and it’s little wonder he can’t wait to get back to European shores.
He does at least have four assists to his name and his passing accuracy remains in the high eighties (86.1%), albeit in a vastly inferior league to that which he’s used to. Comparisons to Maddison (85.1%), Foden (88.1%) and Ward-Prowse (88.8%) are misleading as the latter trio are playing at a consistently higher level where speed of thought as much as accuracy has to be spot on.
Ball recoveries remain his forte, with 95 so far this season, significantly more than Maddison (23), slightly more than Foden (74) and, interestingly, one less than Ward-Prowse (96).
If we also look at chances created, a decent enough indicator of just how important a player is, then Ward-Prowse again doesn’t disgrace himself. His 36 compares favourably to Foden’s 42, Maddison’s 31 and Hendo’s 39.
Touches in the opposition box and getting in amongst it evidence a willingness to be involved at the sharp end, even if that might not necessarily be in the players remit.
Henderson’s 14 is way below Maddison’s 56 and Foden’s 107, and in this particular metric Ward-Prowse is also found wanting with 21.
There are other ways in which each player’s importance to Southgate could be measured of course, but the bottom line is what the manager is looking for from his central attacking midfielder.
For example, one of the questions Southgate has to ask himself is whether Henderson’s lack of output is enough to keep him at home on this occasion, or whether his leadership, desire and experience are all areas which enhance his tournament credentials.
Another might be whether Foden is better utilised in one of the wide positions rather than centrally?
To this point Jude Bellingham hasn’t been mentioned in this conversation because it’s abundantly clear that he’ll be one of the first names on the squad list, injuries notwithstanding.
The season he has had at Real Madrid so far has been nothing short of sensational.
Thirteen goals from 23 shots on target is, frankly, unbelievable. Though he could do better on the assists front (2), his strength and associative play when marauding forward has been a joy to watch.
Looking at the metrics that we’ve measured the other players by, Bellingham has a remarkable 89.7% pass accuracy but is surprisingly bottom of the chance creation list when compared to his contemporaries with just 27.
Eighty-four touches in the opposition box mean he’s second only to Foden in that category, whilst 73 ball recoveries is a more than acceptable tally.
From an all-round perspective, it’s impossible to argue against the Real Madrid man being the starter in that coveted position, however, Ward-Prowse can feel rightly aggrieved that he isn’t even in the conversation at this point.
Not a single call up in recent times, even if only to run the rule over him, and yet the stats would appear to support that he at least deserves the chance to impress Southgate in the lead up to the tournament.
Ultimately, the England coach will live or die by his decisions but he surely can’t ignore Ward-Prowse for too much longer.
(Images from IMAGO)
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