'Dreadful'… Nottingham Forest fans all agree on £30m player who lost possession six times vs Arsenal
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Nottingham Forest were beaten by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday and James Ward-Prowse was restored to the starting eleven.
The 30-year-old hasn’t started a game for Forest since he was sent off during a 1-1 draw over Chelsea way back in early October.
Ward-Prowse came on for a couple of minutes against Newcastle before the international break but he returned to the starting eleven yesterday.
The midfielder has played six games for Forest and despite his credentials when it comes to a set piece, he’s yet to score or claim an assist for the Reds.
Ward-Prowse was in fine form for West Ham last season under David Moyes but quickly found himself out of the reckoning under Julen Lopetegui.
Forest have only signed him on loan and after yesterday’s performance, many fans are hopeful that he won’t be stopping at the City Ground beyond the end of this season.
Nottingham Forest fans react to performance of James Ward-Prowse
During Saturday’s game, fans took to X to vent their frustration at the latest Ward-Prowse performance.
Another fan wrote: “We’ve signed some bad loans since promotion, but Ward-Prowse is right up there. Apart from taking free-kicks and corners, the rest of his play is League One level. Slow, always out of position and awful at tackling and closing down.”
Finally, one fan claimed: “Maybe an unpopular opinion but JWP brings nothing to this squad bar set pieces.”
Ward-Prowse’s performance vs Arsenal in numbers
It was perhaps a performance that suggested Ward-Prowse was a little bit rusty after not really featuring much just lately.
The most damning statistic was that he gave away possession on six occasions, according to Sofa Score, whilst he made just one tackle across his 90 minutes on the pitch.
Who Scored did offer some optimism with his passing accuracy of just under 93% proving to be the highest of any Forest player on an otherwise drab afternoon.
Ward-Prowse does perhaps need to start offering more out on the pitch but ultimately, it will come with more game time and you don’t have the career that he’s had without being able to offer something.
Nuno Espirito Santo must now decided whether to stick or twist with Ward-Prowse when Ipswich arrive at the City Ground next weekend.
