James Ward-Prowse was the toast of Southampton on Saturday night, as he inspired his side to their first win in eight Premier League games.
The winner in the 2-1 victory over Everton at Goodison Park had an air of inevitability about it. Once Anthony Gordon pulled Che Adams to the ground with Southampton on the attack, fear set in amongst the Everton fans, whilst anticipation grew in the away stand. This was in James Ward-Prowse territory.
He, of course, delivered. Bending the ball over the wall and into the opposite side of the goal to that which Jordan Pickford was covering. A vital goal at a vital time from the Saints skipper, which took him onto seven goals for the season and just two behind David Beckham’s record of 18 direct free-kick goals in the Premier League.
Ward-Prowse’s free-kick was sublime, but arguably his first goal of the afternoon was as good – if not better. Perhaps this is due to the consistency at which he delivers from dead ball situations; after all, he has single-handedly outscored every Premier League team in terms of free-kick goals scored since 2018 by at least five. His first goal was special because it was something we have never really seen from the 28-year-old before.
Kyle Walker-Peters clipped the ball forward from right-back, Che Adams flicked on a header, and Ward-Prowse arrived in the box to get on the end of it with a surging, direct run. He took control of the ball and sold the defender a dummy before coolly slotting past Jordan Pickford. Nathan Jones has spoken a lot about direct, aggressive football, maybe we are now seeing that?
This goal was a product of Ward-Prowse’s new role in the Southampton side. Having acted as a number six in a two-man midfield for almost all of Ralph Hasenhüttl’s four years in charge, we have seen Ward-Prowse perform an attacking midfield role for the past two games. It is not a position that is alien to him by any means. It is a role he performed often at youth level and he impressed in the position earlier this season in Southampton’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea with Hassenhüttl still in charge.
It may have been a position that he played more under Hasenhüttl in the wake of that victory, but Roméo Lavia’s injury meant that Ward-Prowse had to drop back and play as the midfield anchor once more. He has at times this season looked a little sluggish, the burden of being the main man at a club that has struggled so much almost certainly having an effect.
The new role that Jones has asked him to perform seems to have rejuvenated the England international, though. It allows Ward-Prowse to influence the game much more in an attacking sense and utilise his passing and crossing ability – as well as shooting – in an area where he can hurt the opposition much more. Earlier in the season we were perhaps not seeing the best of Ward-Prowse, but he is still Southampton’s talisman and best player – of that there should be no debate.
In a crucial time, Ward-Prowse is stepping up. Following the brace against Everton, he now has five goals in his last six games. Three of these have been free-kicks, one a rebound from a penalty, and the other the impressive run and finish against Everton in the last game. In all competitions, Ward-Prowse has seven goals and two assists. If he is to continue in this number ten role – and it seems as though it would be wise for him to do so – then his number of goals from open play should increase as he gets in and around the box into shooting positions. Last season was the Southampton midfielder’s most fruitful season in the Premier League, with ten goals and five assists. With the shift in position and 19 league games left this season, 15 goal contributions is a target he could beat.
The below shows how Jones set his side up in the first half (Southampton are navy). They effectively played a back three, albeit with some flexibility. Defensively, it often became a back four, with Lyanco (4) becoming the right-back and Walker-Peters a more conventional left-back rather than a wing-back. In possession, Lyanco shifted inside to become a right central defender, allowing Walker-Peters (2) to get forward and provide width on the left whilst Moi Elyounoussi (24) offered the same on the right. As can be seen in the diagram, Ward-Prowse (8) played in the advanced midfield role behind Adams (10) and Samuel Edozie (23). In the second half, trailing 1-0, Southampton came out in a 433 formation. Somewhat surprisingly, Ibrahima Diallo rather than Lavia was the deepest-lying midfield player, with Lavia occupying a number eight role with Ward-Prowse – although Ward-Prowse was still granted the freedom to play further forward and join the attack.
The below is the average position of each player (not including substitutes) across the 90 minutes. Some of these roles are impacted by the formation change at half time; none more so than Walker-Peters, whose average position is almost directly in the centre of the pitch as he played one half at left wing-back and the other at right-back. The interesting thing about this, though, is that it shows Ward-Prowse as Southampton’s most advanced player throughout the game. This shows just how involved he was in attacking areas and the freedom that he was granted to aid the attack.
It was clear from watching the game that Ward-Prowse flourished in his advanced role. It was arguably the captain’s best performance of the season and it is clearly a position he enjoys, saying after the game that “playing further forward suits me”. It is hard to argue against this when you look at his stats in the game.
Ward-Prowse had a total of five shots, four of which were on target and scored two. Over the past year, he has averaged 1.32 shots per 90 minutes, which highlights how drastic an increase this is. Despite the move further forward, he did not have spells out of the game as some attacking midfield players do. In fact, only centre-backs Duje Ćaleta-Car and Mohammed Salisu had more touches than Ward-Prowse’s 55. His 37 passes were also only beaten by this pair, plus Lyanco who became the third central defender, and three of these passes were key ones; at least one of which should have resulted in a goal.
Southampton have now won three consecutive games under Jones. The new manager has had more than his fair share of criticism but few would have seen this coming after that dismal defeat to Nottingham Forest. Despite going behind, Southampton were by the better team against Everton and progress appears to have been made.
Ward-Prowse is central to Southampton’s hopes of staying in the Premier League and in this advanced role he can really influence results through goals and assists from open play. Up next for the Saints is Unai Emery’s Aston Villa; a side who Ward-Prowse was linked with in the summer. Can Southampton’s talisman work his magic once again?
