‘The signing of the season’ and ‘how on earth did West Ham manage to sign him rather than one of the bigger clubs?’. Those were just two comments after the early season performances of the ex Southampton captain and now Hammers free kick maestro James Ward Prowse.
But in recent times, he seems to have been taking a bit of a bashing from certain aspects of the Hammers fan base. Early season promise has seen a dip into mediocrity but his recent goal against Wolves directly from a corner shows just what a dead ball threat he can be.
James Ward-Prowse came from us after a successful period at Southampton. The question was, could he replicate this at West Ham. Well let’s have a look at his stats so far this season. Up to and including the Palace game, James had played 47 times for the Hammers in all competitions. This equates to 3,603 minutes.
He’d scored six goals but equally important is his assists. He has 11 assists for goals and he has a pass completion percentage of almost 90%. Now that in my eyes is pretty good. His overall performance this year sees most staticians give him a solid seven out of ten. And there’s more.
He currently sits joint third with Tomas Soucek in goals scored, just one behind Kudus but of course, a long way off of Jarrod Bowen. But here’s the important bit, he leads the team in assists and pass completions. And on overall ranking, he sits fourth not surprisingly behind Kudus, Paqueta and Bowen. I think that’s a pretty good return, don’t you?
It’s a fair assessment to note that since the days of Dimitri Payet, we have been calling out for a dead ball specialist. Although James is, in my eyes, not as talented as the Frenchman, he certainly offers a threat.
Let’s not forget that he poses a threat from every dead ball possession. Much is made of the West Ham Way, well part of the West Ham Way seemed to be at every corner kick to aim for the first man. I always pitied the first defender because if he had done his homework, he knew he was going to be hit by a Mark Noble corner kick.
As for free kicks, the supporters in row Z were seen to be ready to duck every time we won one near goal. I regularly left the ground wondering just what our players practiced on the training ground, we were that bad.
It even became a concern with penalties. Who can fail to forget that decision to bring on Mark Noble as a late substitute to attempt to convert a penalty against Manchester United only to miss. There were 11 other players on the pitch who could have stepped up yet were not trusted and yes I’m including our goal keeper in that number.
We were that bad at dead ball scenarios we had to resort to American football rules and bring on a ‘dedicated’ kicker. James Ward-Prowse offers us a threat. So why the negativity?
In the recent first game against Bayer Leverkusen, he had one of his better games. As he did in the home leg. That fact is, of course, forgotten as we not only lost the game but also lost the tie. We then followed that up by acting like our pet dog Ruby by rolling over and having our belly tickled by Crystal Palace.
The problem with James’ inconsistency may lie with the messiah David Moyes, who likes to move James all over the park rather than in one position. It seems that he has to often make way for others on a regular basis and this clearly affects his game.
There is also the other factor of our expectations. Are we expecting too much from James Ward-Prowse?
His earlier performances maybe flattered to deceive. He really came out of the traps running. Sport is often a confidence business and frustration brings on a lack of confidence.
It doesn’t help James when every pundit seems to state that he has yet to score from a free kick, something he has regularly done in the past. This then adds pressure on his shoulders and can clearly affect his game. It also must be frustrating that he now finds himself not in but on the fringes of an England call up.
He seemed guaranteed of a place in August/September, now he looks like missing out on the Euros in the summer. Isn’t it also part of the West Ham Way that we can sign a world beater and bring them down to our level? We’ve done it before and we will do it again.
But I believe James Ward-Prowse has plenty to offer in the claret and blue. He is one of our better midfielders and I don’t believe he will go the same way as Benrahma as a Championship player that just didn’t make the leap to the promised land. We also have to be a little realistic. The Europa League exit and poor league form could mean no European campaign next season and we may find certain of our ‘star’ players have their heads turned and leave for pastures new.
We would be fools to see James leave with them. I believe we made a mistake allowing Fornals to leave so early, losing James could be a similar mistake. He could have a major part to play in just where we will end up come the end of May. We should get behind rather than chastise him.
Who knows a Payet style free kick or another direct goal from a corner could be the difference in our end of season league placing. James has that ability. I just hope Moyes sees that before it’s too late.
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