JAMES WARD-PROUD
How we got revenge „ for that 9-0 humiliation The secret to becoming „ a free-kick danger man Revealed: Who takes charge „ of the Saints dressing-room
SOUTHAMPTON v WOLVES
St Mary’s Stadium: 3pm
JAMES WARD-PROWSE has been Southampton’s Mr Consistent in a crazy, topsy-turvy season.
He is the only outfield Premier League player to have appeared in every minute of every game in all competitions after establishing himself as the heartbeat of the team.
Southampton’s remarkable turnaround in fortunes was epitomised by their win at Leicester last weekend, less than three months after losing 9-0 at home to Brendan Rodgers’ side.
That will surely go down as one of the stories of the season but also says much about the spirit within the dressing room which has the Saints players looking up the table rather than nervously over their shoulders.
Ward-Prowse said: “That 9-0 defeat was a massive wake-up call for everybody, but it could have written us off altogether.
“It could have been our downfall, with the season gone.
“It says a lot about the club that everybody stuck together and got through those tough times.
“It was a great turning point and hopefully we will look back at the end of the season and see it as a good thing, not just for the team but for the football club in general.
“There was added feeling around the Leicester away game because of the 9-0. For us, as players, we were aware of them playing it on the screens in the stadium before the game and we were thinking: ‘OK…’
“We got back into the changing room and the manager made us watch a montage of that
9-0 defeat and the things we’ve done since then, the positive things and the strides we’ve taken as a team.
“We were all kind of angry by watching that and it provoked us to think, ‘Let’s go out and show them’.”
Ward-Prowse, who became a father to son Oscar in 2018, is proud and passionate about working for the club’s foundation to give something back. There’s a lovely video of him taking a young fan, Leon
Mooney, under his wing, visiting the boy was given the all-clear him in hospital before from cancer, and then giving him a special tour of St Mary’s.
Ward-Prowse believes fatherhood has changed him for the better, while the one-club man has also worked hard on being more aggressive and on being a set-piece specialist. He said: “I have probably
lacked Even me with “Mason would come along into Tony Mount, Mason’s dad. as aggression in my game. a youngster, my dad put one-on-one coaching and to toughen us up. we’d have a session together
“Now it’s a case of going out with no fear. Maybe it’s not my profile as a player but the position I’m in and the way the manager wants us to play, you have to do it. You have to go out,
I always lacked aggression in may game.. but now I play with no fear.
leave a few on some people and change a bit. It’s definitely benefitted my game.”
Equally, he has a different approach to set-pieces, and less is more when it comes to practice for a player renowned for the quality of his delivery from free-kicks.
“First and foremost, it’s difficult to practice every day because you don’t want to get injuries or get tired by wearing yourself out,” he said.
“But also in the game, you might only get one free-kick, so I try to put pressure on myself by only trying one in training.
“I probably started practicing in my mum and dad’s garden.
“I’d watch endless amount of games and I’d watch Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, the free-kick takers, the penalty-takers and those sort of players.
“They were the ones who I was trying to replicate in the garden.”