West Ham United news as Danny Mills defends Gareth Southgate for James Ward-Prowse snub
Danny Mills has defended Gareth Southgate’s decision to leave West Ham United star James Ward-Prowse out of the England squad for the November fixtures.
The 29-year-old has missed out on all three of the Three Lions’ squads this season, despite impressing for the Hammers, with seven Premier League goal involvements and a further four assists already in the Europa League.
Despite that impressive start, Mills doesn’t believe that Ward-Prowse is right for Southgate’s side suggesting playing for England is not really his game, but did admit that the midfielder had been “unfortunate” to face such fierce competition.
Speaking on Sky Sports (13 November) he said: “I look at the competition in those areas, who he’s up against. Does he play ahead of Declan Rice? No. Does he play ahead of Jude Bellingham? No. Does he play ahead of [James] Maddison? No.
“He’s on the bench, so you’re just going to have him come on and take a corner. I get that his set pieces are great, but does he do more than those players in those areas? If you’re going to play an out-and-out holding midfield player, then Kalvin Phillips or Jordan Henderson would play in there.
“If you’re looking for attacking options you’re going to put [Phil] Foden into those areas, Maddison goes into those areas. He’s just unfortunate.
“If you’re talking about trying to create something, apart from his set-piece every now and then he comes up with a good pass, it’s just not really his game.”
Incredibly harsh
It appears as though Mills is the one person in England who agrees with Southgate’s decision to leave Ward-Prowse out of the England squad and it is hard to agree with any of his points as he has been incredibly harsh on the West Ham midfielder.
Firstly, a number of those players that he has listed as being better than the Hammers star are currently ruled out with injury, with neither Bellingham nor Maddison reporting for November’s international camp, so their selection can’t be an excuse for leaving Ward-Prowse out.
Secondly, neither Phillips nor Henderson are playing any sort of valuable regular minutes of competitive top-flight football so it is open to debate whether or not they are better options in defensive midfield than the 29-year-old.
England have a number of players equipped to thrive from Ward-Prowse’s set-piece delivery and his game has many more aspects to it than just his ability to take corners and free-kicks. Mills has been incredibly harsh on the West Ham man here.
In other West Ham news, Slaven Bilic has shared a conversation he had with Wayne Rooney during his time with the Hammers