I re-signed my 12 month extension in the Kingsland Block 35 on Wednesday. Seems to have triggered a couple of others to follow
There was a double signing this week by the members of this household unfortunately it means the kitty is now empty and no grocery shopping until next pension day. Perhaps some of you could bring a food parcel for us on Sunday. You'll recognise us as we look very thin and drawn.
I've already said I'll buy you a large whisky at the Old Farmhouse. That's probably more important than food, right?
It will be like a kids party....the players will all want what the others have. How come he is here until the apocalypse and I have a measly three years?
Forster and VVD were both key members of the squad and needed to be pegged down with new contracts. I am not sure about JWP. Talking about players who I believe would not be playing for Saints during the summer, JWP topped my list. I have never been a fan but he did start to look like his game was beginning to improve at the beginning of the season and I was anticipating that he would eventually come good. A few months in to the season, he looked like our potentially most improved player (got to be Martina as of May 2017) but he lost his place and started to seem surplus to requirements. I am really amazed that Harrison Reed has not made more of an impact but , in my opinion, other than his expert delivery from set pieces, JWP seemed a fringe player at best and perhaps someone whose natural level is the Championship. I was hoping that he would be sold to a Championship club for a couple of million. I don't see him as a PL player.
I just knew this would be a criticism of JWP before I read this. JWP is a PL player and he could grow into a very very good one. Just because he hasn't developed as quickly as Luke Shaw it doesn't mean he won't make it.
Tomw24 Liverpool were tracking JWP when Rodgers was manager and they had earmarked him as a future signing by Rodgers was not convinced by the scout's report. I agree that he is a talented player and that there are some players who mature more quickly than others. Vardy is probably the best example of this. However, JWP does not score enough goals in my opinion and whilst his attributes such as set pieces and his passing, I think he is a bit lightweight. He would be brilliant in the Championship yet I remain to be convinced that he isn't someone we should have cashed in on.
I agree he doesn't score enough goals and maybe he's a bit lightweight but he's got a lot of technical ability. Give it 2 or 3 years and I think he will become a very important player for us.
Here is how JWPs basic career stats back up against some of best midfielders to have graced the premier league when they were 21 Patrick Viera - 104 app, 6 goals Frank Lampard - 110 app, 17 goals Steven Gerrard - 94 app, 11 goals Roy Keane - 134 app, 26 goals Gary Speed - 83 app, 13 goals David Beckham - 56 app, 11 goals James Ward-Prowse - 128 app, 4 goals This proves nothing, other than to prove that the very best had proved nothing by 21
You really think that the Liverpool scouts are better judges than our own coaches?...He is still only 21 ffs and has probably more experience than Lallana had at that age and he was in League One!....The only reason why he isn't a regular starter is that he is competing with International players, but he is England U21 Captain and is known to be on Hodgson's radar. Steven Davis doesn't score many either but has proved there is more to a midfielder than just goals.
The Liverpool scout Mel Johnson was monitoring JWP as a 17 year old and identified him as "looking like a Liverpool player" but I don't believe Liverpool pursued the matter. I can understand why Brenden Rodgers preferred Lallana and I would also have to add that JWP isn't a key component of the Saints squad as Steve Davis - probably the most under-rated midfielder in the Premiership. I agree that JWP has talent but this is the season that myself and a number of other fans feel that JWP should have started to break in to the squad. As a whole, our midfield does not score enough goals but I don't see anything in JWP's game that really suggests he could usurp any of the other midfielders with the exception of Classie.
JWP not a premier league standard player? Ah well, yet another post from Ian T with which I disagree, so no change there then.
JWP is a good player, only 21, and Saints through and through. Makes sense to give him a new contract....how much would it cost to buy a JWP. He is a solid player who never lets you down and has potential to improve...especially in a team that he is totally familiar with. I'm hoping he will step up a gear, but meanwhile he is a good back up. A team like us won't have top top players (as Merson would say) throughout the team right down to the bench.
Fran I agree that JWP has the potential to improve and your comment about his familiarity with the squad is salient. Where I would disagree with you is that I don't think that Southampton should be looking to buy players like him but I certainly would expect the academy to be developing younger players who are at least as good. If there has been a disappointment this season, it is that no new younger players have come through the system and even got within the fringes of the squad. It is interesting to read the comments on the board about JWP as the consensus on Not 606 is very different from what I have heard talking to other fans coming out of the ground. Admittedly there are always going to be differences of opinion and some fans may hold unrealistic views of a player's merit. However, most Saints fans I have spoken to seem to be indifferent about JWP at best. I concur that we need to hold on to our better players and also covet the younger talent going through so that Saints get the benefit. I was really surprised that JWP was offered another contract as I had felt that he would have been allowed to have left. For an England U-21 international, he appears not to have attracted the attention of other clubs and it is also fair to say that his inability to cement a regular first team place has hampered his development. There was a lot of talk in August (also on this board) that this was the season where JWP needed to establish himself and whilst his earlier performances did seem to suggest that 2015/16 would be a his breakthrough season, he has underwhelmed. I concur that he is probably good to have as a squad player but he is certainly replaceable and I am surprised that one of the larger Championship teams have not come in for him. The players that I thought we might lose this summer were Forster, Van Dyke, Mane and Tadic. Signing the first two players is a fantastic job and securing the other two would also be a sign of the ambitions of the club. I am convinced that Pelle will be off-loaded and that Wanyama needs to be convinced to stay. I can see Gardos being allowed to leave along with Harrison Reed (who I really like as he is an aggressive style of player) but I must admit that I also was convinced that the frequent outings on the bench would mean that JWP would have had to have looked elsewhere if he wanted to further his career. Cheers
The one that stands out in this list for me is Beckham, as he is the player JWP is be likened to (not as good, just likened to). This is because the others would have been in and about he box for free kicks delivered from wide areas, corners etc that Beckham would take. The style of play of a team will determine the importance of goals from midfield, which is a concern, but only when they are not coming from the front four in the set up we play. Davis has scored all his goals when playing more as a roving number 10, than a rigid midfield player. I am not too fussed how many goals our 'positional midfielders' score, so long as they are creating opportunities. If you go back over the post match message boards on here, it is not the opportunities we are complaining about, it is the clinical finishing.
