When it comes to the youth training of the most successful team in the Europa League, many people think of Barca or Ajax. When it comes to star processing plants, more people will turn their attention to Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg.
From Bell, Lallana, Chamberlain, and Luke Shaw to Van Dijk, Mane, and Tadić, Saints Southampton is the most underrated being.
The protagonist of this article came to this team from the age of 9 and stepped onto the Premier League stage step by step. In his body, there are the most common traits of English players: tough style, beautiful long passes and never-ending physical strength. More importantly, he has a free kick that points to which to play, which is called a historical existence.
Known as "Pu Teacher", in the past 3 seasons, 8 free kicks have been directly scored, tied with Messi for the first place in football. In his Premier League career, he scored a total of 12 direct free kicks, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo and second only to David Beckham in history.
01. He doesn't want to be a golden boy: he changes by a tough style of play
Born in Pompeii Military Harbor, Ward-Prouss, who joined Southampton Training Camp at the age of 9, is actually a fan of Saints' sworn enemy Portsmouth, and even their entire family is a die-hard loyalist of Military Port.
Because of his talent, Ward-Prouss was widely watched early on, labeled the Saints' Youth Golden Boy. But Prouss doesn't want to be just "beautiful", so he keeps trying to play harder in the game: "I've been trying to get rid of the label of the golden boy in academy, which is not the title I wanted. Coaches told me I needed to win more confrontation and strengthen my aggression on the defensive end, and that benefited me. ”
In a game against Tottenham Hotspur in early 2020, the aggressive Ward Prouss encountered a black foot by Tottenham player Sessegnon. He was in so much pain that he even needed oxygen at one point, and teammate Sean Long burst out in horror after coming forward to check on Prouss's injury. I saw his bones! ”
But Wardpleus came out of injury and still didn't give up any chance to fight. Statistics show that in the 2020 Premier League, Ward Prouss's total running distance reached a staggering 396 km (11.6 km per 90 minutes), ranking first among all Premier League players.
02. Surpassing Ronaldo to tie Messi: This free kick is second only to the million-man Xiaobei
On 1 November 2020, Ward Prouss, who coincided with his 26th birthday, gave himself a gift: 2 free kicks and 1 pass in 26 minutes, leading 3 goals, writing the most amazing scene in the history of the Premier League.
Prouss's free kick, with a flat arc, fast ball speed and accurate landing point, is a real scoring weapon in the case of the team's high point advantage. Westergaard, who was 2 meters tall before, and Bednarek, who is 1.9 meters tall this season, have both received assists from him.
In that classic game of three free-kicks in 26 minutes, Ward Prouss' personal free-kick was the same, with an amazing arc and ball speed, hitting the top corner of the goalkeeper's right hand.
Prouss scored directly from the top 11 free-kicks in the Premier League, 10 of which were in the upper right corner of the goalkeeper and the bottom left corner.
His favourite is still a free kick in front of the penalty area on the left, as the goalkeeper he is aiming at is in the upper right corner, usually the area protected by the human wall. The ball is fast, the arc is falling violently, and the 10-point angle above is a free kick that really makes it difficult for the goalkeeper to guard. Crystal Palace's direct free-kick score this season is the best example of this style of play.
It is worth mentioning that Prouss' 12th Premier League free-kick of his career against Wolves last weekend went straight to the goal, playing a counter-arc that had not been played before, and went straight into the bottom of the net from the top corner of the goalkeeper's left hand.
Prouss once explained how he succeeded in set-pieces: "I've watched a lot of beckham, Gerald and Lampard videos and ended up creating my own technique, the way it suits me, which is the result of spending a lot of time on the training ground. ”
It is worth mentioning that this free-kick score also allowed Ward Prous to surpass Ronaldo's Premier League 11 free-kick goals, equalizing Henry and Zola, becoming the second person in history after Beckham.
Considering Ward Prouss is only 27 years old, it's not impossible for him to catch up with the all-time record of 18 goals for 10,000 fans. Because in the past 3 seasons, Prouss has scored 8 points through direct free kicks, tied for first place in the same period with Messi! If maintained in this form, Prouss could become the first free-kick player in Premier League history by the age of 30.
03. Free kicks aside: There are no top qualities in other areas
After dropping a free kick, Ward Prouss is relatively average. In the last game against Wolves, he only had 56 passes as the core of the midfield, and most of the key passes that formed the shot came from the magic pass of the set-piece. As a midfielder, he conceded the ball 19 times in a single game, which also exposed the more general problem of his ability to control the ball at his feet.
This time he tried to carry the ball on his back and it was quickly cut off, giving his opponents the opportunity to counter-attack. Whether it's physical flexibility or ball-handling skills at his feet, Ward Prouss isn't great.
Less than a minute after he scored a free-kick, Ward Prouss rushed back after a misstep and received a yellow card for bringing down his opponent.
There are similar problems when organizing offensive advances, With Ward Prouss deviating from his ability to change direction when he controls the ball at his feet, and it is not easy to switch angles in an instant when passing short passes, so the relative ball path is narrow. He prefers to get the ball and pass directly diagonally to find a winger, but the success rate of this style of play in the Premier League is not very high, but once successful, it can also play the speed and rhythm advantages unique to the Premier League.
Will Ward Prouss be selected for the England national team for the World Cup at the end of this year? He has contributed goals, assists and assists in his last five games this season, and his total of 6 goals and 2 assists so far in the season is impressive (although 3 goals have come from penalties).
Imagine if in the 90th minute of the game, the Three Lions, who won a free kick, arranged for Ward Prouss to play. Can he score goals or assists? If this can be done, it will also leave a legend in football.
Conclusion:
As a white England midfielder, Ward Prouss has a very typical technical style: excellent footwork, excellent fixed-point passing ability, and tough style. With a more general ability to get out of place (he's already pretty good among white England players) and a long-ball skill that is significantly better than short passes, will he be Southampton's Beckham or Henderson in the future? Perhaps it depends on the World Cup arena, whether it will leave a story that belongs to him.