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James Ward-Prowse


dont_do_it_doug.

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18 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

The passing thing could be down to a lack of match fitness.

May be wrong but i can't remember Nakamba getting more than 2-3 concecutive matches together before being dropped despite playing well.

Everything he got to to is to win the ball and play the simplest ball there is to his closest man. Like Carrick used to do.

Carrick was one of the best passers of the ball in the game and not a great tackler… so I suspect that’s a joke?

On a serious note with Nakamba I agree with you - win the ball, play the simple ball. He’s great at that. The issue is when we have the ball we sometimes end up having to pass to him and that’s not so good!

Horses for courses - in a game where you’re chasing possession you want him on the pitch, in a game when you have the majority of the ball you want him on the bench.

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7 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

Carrick was one of the best passers of the ball in the game and not a great tackler… so I suspect that’s a joke?

On a serious note with Nakamba I agree with you - win the ball, play the simple ball. He’s great at that. The issue is when we have the ball we sometimes end up having to pass to him and that’s not so good!

Horses for courses - in a game where you’re chasing possession you want him on the pitch, in a game when you have the majority of the ball you want him on the bench.

No horses for courses imo.

We conceded 3 goals against Burnley. We conceded 3 goals against Crystal Palace.

If we don't sign another DM Nakamba has to play defensive midfield against any team. 

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5 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

No horses for courses imo.

We conceded 3 goals against Burnley. We conceded 3 goals against Crystal Palace.

If we don't sign another DM Nakamba has to play defensive midfield against any team. 

Ok agree to disagree but fair point.

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10 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Much better than our present midfielders?

I’m sure he’s a good player regardless but is he what we need?

I’m not against it, just don’t see the value (will be a huge fee, surely) and how much he would improve us. I see nothing special or exceptional about him other than the free kicks, all of our existing midfielders can do what he does and maybe better - we shouldn’t forget about Sanson, he could turn out to be the best of the lot.

For what he would cost, I’m sure we could do better. 

We could bid for a genuine star like De Paul & Milinkovic-Savic (prob even better at free kicks and would offer a lot more, unlikely though I know). Or a strong, quality DM to help us out in that midfield battle, especially against the top sides.

Definitely better than Mcginn. 

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9 minutes ago, maqroll said:

I have a feeling an informal agreement was struck with Soton weeks ago...

Based on what? Complete lack of noise from anyone outside the Paul Doyle article who curiously has failed to follow up with a single subsequent tweet about it or is it the pushback from Southampton saying no bid made and not for sale?

This is the biggest turnip of a rumour since Sneijder

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53 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

Definitely better than Mcginn. 

Having very mixed feelings… to have a reliable, specialist set piece taker would be huge for us, we desperately need one.

But, the cost of signing JWP and the fact that I don’t see him as (enough of) an upgrade on McGinn & potentially Sanson (don’t forget about this guy!) continues to put me off… again, take away his free kicks and does he really have that much more to offer?

He’s the same kind of player, he is not a DM, he’s the CM that plays next to the DM (usually Romeu). If he could excel in that position then he would be more appealing and welcome competition for Luiz… but I don’t see it…

To be a genuine threat from set pieces and to have consistent, quality delivery is very appealing… but there are other players out there capable of that… players that could actually be a significant upgrade to our team and add something different…

 

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I had the same view but then watched him against Romania in what was a very turgid team performance.

In his wider game (exc set pieces) I’d say he is at the very least the same as McGinn. Maybe McGinn would give you more driving runs from deep.

Then you add the set pieces and you basically get a minimum from him of between 5-10 goals and 10-15 assists in a team where jack and buendia would draw free kicks around the box for fun.

you also get the intangible with JWP which will be that defenders will have to consciously decide whether to foul jack/buendia/Watkins and give away the free kick to JWP or let the runners through. 

The more I think about it the more this would be a perfect signing but unfortunately I can’t see It happening.

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I keep hearing that we don’t need him or any other central midfielders because we already have plenty of them. For me our weakest position last season was central midfield, so we may have plenty that play in that position but it’s certainly an area we should be looking to improve. I’ve only really studied JWP in the recent England game but I didn’t see anything to put me off. 

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I think there is more chance of us signing Sarr to be honest. It’s one thing signing a quality player with PL experience, but to get an England international, who is also the club captain and just hitting his peak years, is something else.

Although Grealish is a class above, we’d want £100m plus to even entertain a deal. I just don’t see how Southampton would accept less than £60m for Ward-Prowse.

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11 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

I keep hearing that we don’t need him or any other central midfielders because we already have plenty of them. For me our weakest position last season was central midfield, so we may have plenty that play in that position but it’s certainly an area we should be looking to improve. I’ve only really studied JWP in the recent England game but I didn’t see anything to put me off. 

Completely agree. I do however understand some of the criticisms of signing JWP that he is very similar in style to what we already have. Yes I agree with you that he's an upgrade but I do think McGinn, Sanson and Dougie are all good enough at the level, have an opportunity to improve further and challenge for a spot together. I don't think having 3 or 4 similar ish players will suddenly make us dominate central midfield. JWP is better than what we have but doesn't suddenly transform our midfield either. So can kind of see both sides

 

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15 minutes ago, TheMelvillan said:

Other than set pieces I don't think he offers much more that our current set of midfielders can do. Can we not just train them how to hit a dead ball better?!

Set pieces are a pretty big thing to be dismissive of, especially when we get so many. I’m sure we practice set pieces a lot but it is a natural talent to some extent.  Fine margins and all that. 

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I can't see this one happening but I think it would be a great signing.

It would basically be like having a premier league version of Hourihane in the Championship.

 

He'd be our best central midfielder (classing Jack and Buendia as wide players)

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JWP belongs at a top 6 club (us maaaaaaaybeeee?) - looks every part as effective as any other midfielder at the club, plus he has his set piece super power - might be a big outlay but the difference he would make in tight games could be huge for us. He's the sort of targeted addition top clubs make. 

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7 hours ago, villalad21 said:

No horses for courses imo.

We conceded 3 goals against Burnley. We conceded 3 goals against Crystal Palace.

If we don't sign another DM Nakamba has to play defensive midfield against any team. 

Most of our 15 clean sheets were without Nakamba.  Sometimes you just have games like that.

If we are playing with 2 8's and a 6 and those 8's are decent defensively (McGinn and Luiz for example), then JWP as the 6 is fine. If you're playing a 6, 8, and 10 you need a Nakamba type (that's better on the ball ideally).

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