Whip it like Ward-Prowse – David Beckham Mark II?
Although this playful title well may not have the potential to see the beloved Jesminder return to our screens, only a fool would be quick to disregard the actual weight behind this claim. Underneath the uninspiring public facade the Southampton man chooses show us lies a black belt in the fine art of tae-kwon-free-kick, a man biding his time to finally step forward and fill the shoes of the nation’s favourite man, shoes that for so long, many people have believed to be simply unfillable…
Dramatic prologue aside, it is true that the young Southampton midfielder has struggled to find his best position at the club. The majority of his time is spent centrally, whether that be in a deeper role or in fact holding the strikers hand. From time to time he can also be seen collecting chalk on his boots, as although not possessing any outstanding physical attributes, he has already mastered many tricks of the wingers trade.
Perhaps it’s because of this inability to as of yet establish himself in the Southampton lineup that is leaving you baffled about the bold comparisons I have made. But I believe that despite being a familiar Premier League face, the extent of his ability is massively underrated, or at the very least his potential, and it is through looking closely at his many talents, and one in particular, that his similarities with Beckham and his phenomenal ability become clear.
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Ward-Prowse has an uncanny knack of consistently striking the ball with both pinpoint accuracy and serene beauty, much like the nation’s favourite footballer used to do not so long ago. However it is not just the quality and threat the Saint’s midfielder so often produces that forced me to make this comparison. It is in fact the ankle-breaking, physics-defying whip he manages to put on the ball and how he goes about doing so that is unique to him and the ex-England captain alone.
The ‘modern day game’ with its ‘modern day football’ and its ‘modern day’ this and ‘modern day’ that has seen the birth of many new free-kick taking techniques. Cristiano Ronaldo, perhaps the pioneer of many of these alien methods, as well as many other noteworthy contributors have pursued groundbreaking means to bend the ball to their will, forcing us to make room for terms like knuckleball in our day-to-day footballing vocabulary in the process. Because of this however, it seems to me that gone are the days when putting a s**t tonne of curl on the ball was the preferred, and most efficient way to take a free kick.
Until now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk94JYwnxQA
WatchingWard-Prowse’s masterclass (more than an apt description) it is clear to see he is a great believer in curling the ball and has all but perfected this medieval free kick technique. The consistency of his efforts is evident from the shouts of “and again” towards the end of the video, whilst the movement of the ball itself is something magnificent in its own right. Beckham was notorious for the way his standing foot nearly snapped in half every time he struck the ball, whether from a set piece or on the run, and it is this unnatural (and at times dangerous) position that Prowse also adopts. By doing so, it seems both are able to generate out of this world rotations, making reading the flight of the ball and consequently doing something about it a thing of nightmares for goalkeepers and defenders alike.
However, enough of the technical similarities between these two set piece wizards. Their role and how they go about their business on the pitch is something else I believe makes them kindred footballing spirits.
David Beckham can be pigeon-holed as an old fashioned winger. Returning back to the cliché of amassing chalk on one’s boots, Goldenballs was very much comfortable on the touchline, happy to send out a flurry of heat seeking missiles to his teammates from all but a stationary position, rather than taking on and running past the opposing full back. In the Premier League today we are used to the likes of Hazard, Sanchez and Sterling who run at defenders with electric pace and mesmerising trickery. But who’s to say a winger who can put the ball on a sixpence is any less useful? Yes, as I said, it seems the norm now is to overload your flanks with the fastest players at your disposal and tell them to run. But why for the sake of adhering to the meta discard such a potentially lethal weapon the likes of Beckham and Ward-Prowse possess. The problem with these pacy is wingers is that their final ball is so often criticised, so meet this problem head on and place more faith in those wide midfielders that will deliver a ball of immense quality and tremendous accuracy, and do so 99% of the time.
Southampton in the form of Graziano Pelle have one of the best target men in the league right now. If Ward-Prowse could avoid injury and push for a consistent run in the side, the pair could well be a match made in heaven. With Elia on the left providing the guile and the trickery, having someone like Ward-Prowse on the other flank would be a great asset to any side, not just Southampton’s. Also, when you combine his ability to consistently produce such wicked deliveries with a humongous defence, gigantic central midfielders and a clinical striker on top of all this, it seems an all too obvious solution to Southampton’s current goal scoring infertility.
Maybe I am simply too emotionally attached to the beauty of James Ward-Prowse’s freekick technique to make a well rounded judgment on his ability and how he can best be used by Ronald Koeman. But statistics like the one above, amongst many other things, make it hard to dispel my gut instinct that Ward-Prowse’s future is a bright one. Especially when considering the same skill set he possess was the cornerstone of success for someone of David Beckham’s calibre. My admiration of his technique and faith in his talent is something that continues to grow as I become ever more unyielding in my stance that James Ward-Prowse is a player with plenty more to offer.
For all we know, it may one day be this young man himself scoring a last minute free kick to send his country to the World Cup, or even better…
Winning it for them.
