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| James Ward-Prowse admits he would love the Saints armband one day |
JAMES WARD-PROWSE has hailed Gareth Southgate's influence as he eyes the Southampton captaincy.
The 21-year-old Southampton midfielder scored from the spot for the Three Lions on Monday as they came from behind to beat Switzerland 3-1 at the AMEX Stadium in Brighton.A man England boss Roy Hodgson recently described as a ‘big prospect’, Ward-Prowse enjoyed his fifth game leading out the promising England side that now sit top of Group 9 in their Euro 2017 qualifying campaign.And with former Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, and Middlesbrough captain Southgate taking him under his wing, the Saints youngster believes he has the potential to become leader of both club and country.“It is obviously a nice honour for me,” he said. “It has broadened my experience a bit more and a different role for me in the team so I am enjoying every minute of it. “I’m not probably the sort of captain that is going to shout on the ball and dictate things, but I like to be a voice on the pitch and lead by example and try and lead the others. “Becoming captain of Southampton is a target for me long term so to get this sort of experience now will stand me in good stead for that, and Gareth has helped me a lot to adapt in the role as captain. “He is a terrific manager to work with and has gone all the lads on side. We had a bit of a laugh in the changing room as he gave us a shout of ‘get in’ after his speech at the end.“All the lads were buzzing off it, he has got everyone playing well and that is the most important thing.”It was Duncan Watmore who turned frustration into elation against the Swiss, coming off the bench to score one and set up two goals as his side came from behind inside the final 15 minutes.After dominating for 45 minutes, a frustrating first half got a lot worse for Southgate’s side on the brink of the interval, when Shani Tarashaj spectacularly lobbed the onrushing Jordan Pickford to put the visitors ahead.
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| Ward-Prowse scored from the spot as England came back |
England continued to dominate possession after the break, and after Watmore was introduced with a quarter of an hour remaining for the ineffective Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the game turned on its head.The 21-year-old almost scored with his first touch, before winning the penalty for Ward-Prowse to convert on 82 minutes and seeing his long-range effort wickedly deflected in just three minutes later.Chuba Akpom rubbed salt in the wound in added time, finishing well from inside the area after Watmore beat his man on the left touchline, and having only broken into the under-21 setup in September, Ward-Prowse is confident the Sunderland winger will be one to watch.He said: “Duncan is a fantastic lad and a good professional that works really hard.
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| Ward-Prowse has captained England five times since taking the armband |
“He has a really good spirit about him so that game was perfect for him to come in to and all the lads and all the staff are buzzing for him.“The quality of the current group is really high, the quality of the last group was as well so to keep that is great.”Ward-Prowse now turns his attention back to an important league clash with Stoke this weekend, and given his current form in an international jersey he hopes it will be hard for Saints boss Ronald Koeman to leave him out.“I think just keep performing at the level he expects,” he added. “If you get a chance in a game you’ve got to take it and show him that he can’t drop you in the next game.“I felt like I did that against Sunderland in the last game and hopefully tonight will mean I get back in his thoughts.“I think we have a bigger and stronger, more experienced squad now, so it is harder for the younger players to come in but that is a challenge - and the journey for a young player into the first team is never going to be easy. “Trying to nail down a permanent spot at Southampton is the priority at the minute, obviously with England going well as well that is great.”
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