His defense is getting better, too. Maybe because of the system but probably also due to experience. His offensive positioning was always good as far as making himself available. But his positioning on defense seems to have improved a lot. Still not going to put in too many tackles, but at least he applies some pressure. Would think he will soon start picking up the interceptions. Still don't think he is as good as Davis, but he might be soon. And Davis is a good player for him to learn from right now, so hopefully he's picking some things up in training.
Not really sure what you are basing your judgements on. His defence was found out against norwich which was only a handful of games ago, since then he hasn't proven to be any better than that defensively. The Davis comparison is a realistic one and if he becomes better than Davis he will have done well.
I think JWP is a better option than Davis already. Judge me. I know he's dependable, recycles possession well, but I don't understand the Davis love-in enjoyed by some.
Davis is less 1-dimensional - scores goals, assists and can create space for others. He is still limited and too conservative but when he takes the game on which happens occasionally he can worry the defence. I don't rate either of them but davis is more dynamic, a better defender and probably also a decent leader.
Chambers was playing right back in that game. We were also playing Osvaldo and Lambert together. So, the balance of the side was different and the right back was different. He has work to do on his defending but you are definitely getting carried away. I rate them both. Ward-Prowse is great at creating chances. His set pieces are also sublime. Davis is better when we lose possession and will get the occasional goal. Ward-Prowse was brilliant against Fulham and surely guaranteed himself another start against Stoke. He had more touches of the ball than any player against Fulham and created 6 chances. He was brilliant when he came on at Old Trafford. I feel like we found the right balance to the entire side against Fulham. Rodriguez had the opportunity to play a more central role and had a fanastic game. Davis was very solid in our wins against Palace and Swansea. They are both pretty consistent players. You know you will get a solid performance, at the very least, and this consistency is a very good thing. I don't really know how someone could not rate either of them. Lighten up.
Redmond did him 3 times. The threat he poses from setpieces, which is his primary threat, needs to be put into context. He doesn't win the freekicks and the freekicks, while better than lallana's, aren't that much better than lallana's. We have been nearly as threatening from setpieces without him, lambert hit the bar from a lallana corner, lovren scored. The point being that he is effective in situations that we would be effective in any case so the net loss from his setpiece absence is considerably smaller than some statistics might suggest.
Is he?! Be very surprised if we have a player (bar Morgan) who gets through more running than JWP. He presses with real interest and intensity. Not syaing that Davis doesn't but I don't think that either 1 presses noticably better than the other!
Against swansea jwp appeared to deal with dyer a lot better than davis, he's quicker and can press with more energy but I don't think he positions himself or tackles as well as davis.
So you don't rate JWP or Davis. Given that you've posted ad nauseam about how poor Wanyama is, it looks like the only midfielders of ours that you rate who've played much this season are Morgan and Adam. Can I ask you how the **** we have made it to 5th in the table with a two-man midfield? Vin
I don't think we should have bought wanyama as schneiderlin is a much better defensive midfielder who would be even better partnered with a ball playing midfielder. However wanyama does a job and I imagine pochettino is happy with him.
Just seen this - not sure if posted before: http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/27/rampant-southampton-emphatically-blow-fulham-away-to-climb-to-third-4162477 I love this bit: "But please make not, much like Rickie Lambert isn’t like Grant Holt, Southampton are not the ‘new Swansea’, they are the ‘new Southampton’ and they haven’t finished yet." No 7
You must think Pochettino is a right moron, then. If only we had you, you never shy away from pointing out that you know better than he does.
Until the Fulham game, we've been a second half team, scoring a lot of our goals near the end of the game, after JWP has been subbed on. I wonder why that might be? /sarcasm Seriously - I think he needs to work on the defensive side of his game, but IMO he's far better than Davis offensively but it'll come; he's only 18 & I thought similar of Luke Shaw's defenceive work last season.
That Mauricio Pochettino bloke must be really thick if he keeps picking James Ward Prowse. What does he or any of the other coaches know about football FFS. I am eagerly awaiting for news to come out of St Mary's that he has been sacked and replaced by rabbitsspectrum who will have on his coaching team those people who think Wanyama is crap, Guly is ****, Fox is worse than useless, Osvaldo was a crap buy, who wont want Puncheon back, who didn't think Rickie could hack it in the PL, etc etc. I have slapped my forehead so many times reading his bigoted bloody nonsense that I now need medical treatment. I know what treatment he needs and it starts with someone putting a bloody great size nine boot on and swinging their leg back then kicking him right up the arse. He is only on here to wind everyone up and is either GMI or heaven forbid someone even worse.
JWP is not better than Davis and Davis is not better than JWP. They are completely different. JWP keeps the ball moving which opens up space. Davis is more of a driving forward type of player. A box to box player that snaps away at the man in possession where JWP closes down the space. more often than not someone else is doing the 'snapping' and JWP is the second man ready to move the ball on. So they offer different options. Davis is more suited to playing a battling 'old head gamesmanship' side like West Ham. JWP is better against sides that try to move the ball quicker and leave a little more space. As for the Redmond comment?? Many an international midfielder will be 'done' by Redmond this season. If they let Norwich get the ball to him. I think we were a little off the pace and a little naive against Norwich and their midfield were allowed more time than any other team we've played.
I'd be willing to bet a large sum of money that over 41 games JWP would outscore him. Davis is 4 in 41. Also they have the same number of assists this season. Davis' number of assists last season in the league amounted to a COLOSSAL....one. Yep, just one. Unbelieveable amount of ****e chatted here. Thread should be locked. Pre-season was better than this bollocks.
I think Davis's game right now is more useful against a wider variety of opponents. If teams are going to give the midfielders space and/or sit way back then Prowse's ability to spread the ball and play set pieces are probably superior. But in a general situation, I think Davis is better on defense and offers a bit of everything. He's basically of the gritty, box-to-box, blue collar mold, but he has a bit more class to his game than you might expect. So I like Davis to start most of the time, and JWP as an option for an early sub if it turns out we need his skills. But I don't loathe or love either player at present. Both are hard-working, honest, decent Premier League players who it is easy to cheer for. It's not going to kill the team whichever one starts, nor is it going to lift us to a new level. I suppose I would put Rodriguez in the same category. I'm speaking strictly as of now, of course. JWP obviously has tremendous potential and is improving so maybe as soon as a month or two down the line from now it could be a different story.
Poch obviously thinks Morgan has the skillset to push up and with the pressing style that's exactly what we need. Last year we said we needed more steel in midfield and that's what we got- lets stop complaining about it. Cork may be a batter ball playing midfielder and he is indeed a superb player but you can't argue our midfield has been much more solid this season. On this basis you cannot exclude Wanyama, no matter how well he played last year.
