Moyes gives his Ward Prowse verdict

A beaming David Moyes had the following to say following our game yesterday. And as the part of his post match analysis, the manager gave his verdict on James Ward Prowse.

It was a brilliant win!

Unfortunately the run is that, before the international break, we’d have three away games and one home game. This was the one home game, against Chelsea, who I’ve seen in pre-season and went to watch last week at Liverpool, and they were so, so good. So for us to get a result today was incredible.

James Ward-Prowse played so well and that’s what we want, isn’t it?

We want midfielders who look to make assists and score. We’ve got him in now and he’s already made a difference with his set-piece quality today. I’m really pleased for him. He’s settled in well and he looks a really good lad for our dressing room.

There were lots of bits I liked.

I like the word ‘brilliant’ for moments like Michail’s goal and Alphonse’s penalty save. There were parts of the game I didn’t like too though. I want us to have more possession and win the ball better. But there are sometimes other circumstances which are easy to talk about but are not easy in practice.

There were lots of bits I liked. I like the word ‘brilliant’ for moments like Michail’s goal and Alphonse’s penalty save

They had a centre-forward in Nicolás Jackson who can run like Linford Christie, and if you press too high up the pitch then you could be done in behind. You could see how quick they were down the sides. They had the pace in midfield which meant our lads were always going to find some difficulty with it.

So, it’s not just about us; it can also be about what the opposition do and can do to us. Right now, I’m think Chelsea look like a really good team.

I’m thrilled with how we hung in after going down to ten men.

I don’t think Nayef should have gone to ground and made that second tackle after being booked, but I think we’re going to see a lot of cards this season.

Last year, I can’t remember us having a red card, but I think we’re going to see more people sent off this season. It will certainly make things a lot harder.

We had to sit in and defend the box, which we did brilliantly well in the second half. I’ve got to say I’m also pleased with a couple of the counter-attacks we had, particularly the one that led to the penalty. It was good to see.

I thought today was great. Let’s be fair; Chelsea will be in the top four at the end of the season and we’ve just beaten them at home. So we’re got to put that in perspective.

We’re still regrouping a bit and getting ready, and we’ve still got a bit of work to do before I would say we’re completely ready. But I’m glad we got that win today. They’re important points with the run of games we’ve got.

I think our fans appreciated our effort and the players’ commitment in this win.

Fair play to Moyes and his team; that was a battling and resilient display.

And who could begrudge him that cheeky  grin at the end after he turned over a team that has recently spent the equivalent of the GDP of a small country!