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Boy Wonder: James Ward Prowse - (TwentyFour7 Magazine + MLT's season preview)


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Courtesy of twentyfour7 football magazine. Anyone else bought this? Very good and think I prefer it to FourFourTwo.

 

Offers good coverage of all leagues and even the non-league, lots of contributors from all areas of the game too.

 

 

 

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Also, here is MLT's season preview for good measure...

 

 

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Interesting that Lallana is 'one to watch' in contrast to the criticism many on here give him.

 

Lazy journalism. Hope I'm wrong but hasn't shown me anything to make me believe that he's going to be our main player!

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Is this not run/owned by the Peterborough owner Darragh Macanthony?

 

Correct. It's really good. Lots of content and well-known contributors. From chairmen and owners, to directors of football, managers, coaches, players and agents.

 

Also, it doesn't forget the football league and non-league like many others do.

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Interesting that Lallana is 'one to watch' in contrast to the criticism many on here give him.

 

He is one to watch, and I would expect him to come good again. His form dipped last season but it appears only us fans and not the press noticed, but he's still key to our attacking play. I can't see it happening but he need to be rid of the captaincy - and it given to Rickie, Morgan or Davis IMO. I think that, and being fully fit, would free him up to be his creative best.

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Interesting to see in that article that JWP wants to push Morgan and Cork for starting spot - that interview must've been done before the Wanyama deal (as it says in the lower article he'd just signed as the magazine went to press) so I wonder how JWP feels now about having to challenge 3 players for a spot.

 

Question to those that have seen more of him than the couple of times I have - but could JWP play in one of the 3 attacking positions a la Davis?

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Lazy journalism. Hope I'm wrong but hasn't shown me anything to make me believe that he's going to be our main player!

 

Not sure I'd agree with either...I think he is one to watch in only his second season in the top flight so it's fair enough to single him out...I think we (well hopefully not me) take him for granted because we have come to accept his skills as the norm whereas other club fan forums often pick him out as a star. I do think he has more in his development locker that games and maturity will bring, particularly in terms of goals and end product. He made it look easy in the lower leagues but will have adjusted to the pace of the PL better for the season's experience.

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Being away I think I only saw a couple of games live last season, and one of those was up at Citeh in the opener. My rough rule of thumb that he didn't look out of place was easily passed: he looked comfortable and composed, and that in a position where you are involved and can easily be found out. An 18 year old premiership footballer in midfield: can't think off-hand of any others.

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When he started against Utd and City, pundits were commenting on his composure and competence for such a young age at such a high level.

 

Give him time to develop and he will be quality, I'm fairly sure at that. Looking at some of the things he does in training, he is a very technically gifted player.

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he need to be rid of the captaincy -

 

Too much is being made of this, the captain role is mainly titular and to help ref's control the game, control of the match is effected from the touchline by the coaching staff. Unlikely to make a difference but my personal opinion is that he isn't leadership material in any case so maybe the captaincy should be elsewhere

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Think his development would benefit most from a loan move to a championship side at the moment.

Why? He figured in 19 games for us last season; 16 in the league including 4 starts. And he's still 18 years old. He doesn't look out of place in this league. So what's the best for him? Keep doing what he's doing? Or play in a lower league for a different team? At 18, I'd much rather keep him if he's still going to feature. If he'd played in 4 or 5 games then fair enough, but this lad was deemed good enough for over 40% of our games last term.

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Why? He figured in 19 games for us last season; 16 in the league including 4 starts. And he's still 18 years old. He doesn't look out of place in this league. So what's the best for him? Keep doing what he's doing? Or play in a lower league for a different team? At 18, I'd much rather keep him if he's still going to feature. If he'd played in 4 or 5 games then fair enough, but this lad was deemed good enough for over 40% of our games last term.

 

Add to that the whole training perspective: he's better off training with better players here than with an NPC squad... Definitely keep him here and play him often enough to keep him motivated...

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Why? He figured in 19 games for us last season; 16 in the league including 4 starts. And he's still 18 years old. He doesn't look out of place in this league. So what's the best for him? Keep doing what he's doing? Or play in a lower league for a different team? At 18, I'd much rather keep him if he's still going to feature. If he'd played in 4 or 5 games then fair enough, but this lad was deemed good enough for over 40% of our games last term.

 

'Figured' is the operative word - not sure how many minutes he played given most of his appearances were from the bench.

 

Indeed, not sure if he would have got those games under MP had Guly been fit and Davis not been covering for Gaston (he didn't feature much under NA after his early baptism of fire). He was basically deployed as a fresh pair of legs to close a game out - hardly a ringing endorsement.

 

With Wanyama joining and Cork who is streets ahead of JWP at the moment possibly dropping to the bench, JWP's chances are likely to be even more limited. Might be good to keep him around as insurance but I think our interests would be served by him getting regular games from the start and learning what it means to be the focal point of another team, something which is lacking from his neat-and-tidy but relatively toothless game.

 

This says nothing about what he might go on and achieve -I appreciate he's 18 ffs. Rather its about what he contributes in the here and now and how best we can leverage his potential over the long-term.

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JWP is a really good player at 18, this and the next season are going to be the making of him. From what I have seen of him he will make it, passing, vision and general technical ability are amazing for an 18 year old, all he really needs is a bit of strength or Steven Davis style confidence to just plough forward with the ball...

 

Realistically we have left the door open form him with the academy progression stuff and I really hope he takes it over the next two years as he should be able to make a positive impact.

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Add to that the whole training perspective: he's better off training with better players here than with an NPC squad... Definitely keep him here and play him often enough to keep him motivated...

 

Cannot compare kicking around the margins of a squad with the odd sub appearance with actually starting competitive games and learning how to dictate play which is what defines the best midfielders.

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Cannot compare kicking around the margins of a squad with the odd sub appearance with actually starting competitive games and learning how to dictate play which is what defines the best midfielders.

 

True enough, but the further down the leagues he goes for regular playing time, the worse training he will get (in theory at least ;))... I'd still prefer to let him learn from Morgan, Cork, Wanyama, Davis etc. on a daily basis but only time will tell whether playing time is more important for JWP.

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Cannot compare kicking around the margins of a squad with the odd sub appearance with actually starting competitive games and learning how to dictate play which is what defines the best midfielders.

Would you have sent MLT out to Oxford or Swindon when he was struggling to get games under Chris Nichol? I'm not much of a fan of the Harry Redknapp approach of sending our best talent out for games. I prefer the one we've adopted over many years of predominantly not getting other clubs to do our work for us for our best upcoming players. That's just me, though. I appreciate others think differently.

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If he really is expected to get just a handful of games then yes, I can see the appeal of going out on loan but I think he's more advanced in his career than that. I'd expect him to get around the same number of games this year - more if we have a decent cup run. With that many games, he'd still develop well and I think he'd probably snub a move to a Championship club. He seems to have confidence. You only need to hear him talk about Bale wanting to stay if he was at Saints now to know he values the club pretty highly. He probably sees Saints as a big part of his England recognition too. Ambitious lad. We're lucky.

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We have the strongest midfield we've had in years, competition will be fierce and Ward Prowse knows this. If he features more then we'll be the benefactors here as Jack Cork, Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama are first rate midfielders, as good as any you'll see in this league.

As for Lallana, he's suffered from a drop a form post injury. In my humble opinion he's as good a player as any we've ever seen at Southampton over the last 4 years. His play in the Championship was, at times, breathtaking. Get him fit, get him focused and watch him go this season...

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Sending him out on loan is an atrocious idea.

With his ball control, shooting ability and slightly better than average pace I think he is much better suited to an attacking midfield role rather than CM. But we'll see.

 

Would be fantastic but he's shown very little attacking intent so far.

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Would be fantastic but he's shown very little attacking intent so far.

 

He is, quite clearly, a box to box midfielder. He has a fantastic engine. I don't see him as creative/instinctive type player, but has already shown the ability to burst from midfield into more offensive positions. We are very fortunate.

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He is one to watch, and I would expect him to come good again. His form dipped last season but it appears only us fans and not the press noticed, but he's still key to our attacking play. I can't see it happening but he need to be rid of the captaincy - and it given to Rickie, Morgan or Davis IMO. I think that, and being fully fit, would free him up to be his creative best.

 

A fair summation, What ever was in Adkins mind when he made Lallana. Ist Team Capt' certainly did the player no favours.

A better choice would have been, as suggested, any of the midfielders, my preference being Steve Davis afterall if he's good enough to skipper his country then he's good enough for Saints.

Leave Lallana to play his game without any other distractions.

 

Amen.

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