Today we welcome George Gill to our growing band of writers. His debut article is something that we will look to introduce more of in the coming months. The first ‘Player Profile’ is on the ever popular full back, Joel Ward
George is a second year student at Huddersfield University and is studying Music Technology & Pop Music and probably the only Palace fan in town. He has supported the club from a young age seeing as it’s the local team to the family home in Warlingham. You can follow George on Twitter.
Many would agree that despite a poor start to the season for the Eagles, and the loss of a manager that masterminded their phenomenal return to the top flight, there are still some positives the club can take from an indifferent start to the campaign.
Captain Mile Jedinak has already demonstrated how vitally important he is to the Palace cause this season, through his passionate and gritty displays. However, one man who has endeared himself to the Palace faithful this season is Joel Ward.
Ward began his career at Portsmouth, working his way up through the youth squad and reserve team, signing his first professional contract in July 2008. A month later, he was sent out on loan to Bournemouth for the 2008/09 season, picking up 21 appearances in League Two. After gaining some valuable first team experience, Ward returned to Portsmouth the following season and appeared in three Premier League games as they suffered relegation.
Seasoned internationals such as Steve Finnan, Tal Ben Haim and Anthony Vanden Borre made competition for a starting place in the Pompey back four fierce. But as the club slipped down to the second tier of English football, Ward found himself to be a regular fixture in the team under the guidance of Steve Cotterill.
He proved to be an excellent utility player, playing in numerous positions including as an attacking midfielder.
A total of 44 appearances signified an impressive 2011/12 season for Ward, which led him to sign for Crystal Palace in the summer for £400,000, despite major interest from domestic rivals Ipswich Town. After completing the signing, then assistant manager Lennie Lawrence told the club website that Palace allegedly had “severe competition” for Ward’s signature, and said that he firmly believed that Ward would be a Premier League player one day.
After enduring a tough time with the Eagles, with the club narrowly dodging liquidation just two years before, Lawrence would not have thought that Ward would have returned to the Premier League with his new club.
In Ward’s first season with Palace, he cemented his place as first choice right-back, notching up 30 appearances and helping the Eagles to a fifth place finish. Ward was an important part of Palace’s team, proving so in their playoff final victory over Watford, where he headed an almost certain equaliser off the line during extra time to preserve Palace’s precious 1-0 lead.
Having been nurtured as a centre-back at Portsmouth’s academy, Joel Ward has the attributes to fulfil any defensive duties. His anticipation and positioning are valuable traits.
Take, for instance, his recent headed clearance off the line from Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin – a repeat of his Wembley playoff heroics. His fighting spirit, something the Eagles will need to maintain throughout the season, is consistent and never lacking. The centre-back mentality is evident in Ward’s game, where he has demonstrated his aerial ability, positional sense and his relentless quality tackling. Standing at 6”2, his physical presence and height is key to the defensive part of his game. However, unlike most tall defenders, Ward possesses a deceptive amount of pace. He exhibited this in Palace’s loss against Fulham, and their win against Sunderland, where as well as keeping Giaccherini quiet for the duration of the game, he showed that he is comfortable going forward and creating chances.
Ward’s time at Portsmouth, where he played in a variety of positions, has helped the attacking side of his game. Playing under the attacking-minded, pass and move believer Ian Holloway would’ve helped this side of his game too. A great example of this was during Palace’s defeat to Arsenal, where Ward drifted inside from the right hand side and unleashed a thundering strike that could’ve been a spectacular goal. However, Szczesny was in great form that day, managing to get the slightest of touches to tip the ball on to the crossbar.
The statistics don’t contradict the attacking side of his game, as he has completed an average of 40.4 passes per game, with a passing completion rate of 78.9%. His tackling statistics are more prominent, as the right back boasts the best tackling success percentage (96%) than anyone else in the league with 20 tackles or more.
Considering that most of Ward’s games this season have been under Holloway, this is an impressive accomplishment.
After making 32 tackles in seven games, averaging 4.5 tackles per game (the highest in the Palace squad), Ward has only committed two fouls. His ability to time his tackles to perfection is easily justified just in that stat. Only two players have averaged more tackles than him in the league this season, Lucas Leiva and Phil Bardsley. Ward also is ranked 3rd in the league for his 2.3 interceptions made per game, and his 5.6 defensive clearances per game, making him to be the top English full back at the moment based on these facts provided by Opta.
At the age of 24 it seems Ward has matured into a top all-round footballer. The £400,000 Palace paid for Ward now seems like a very shrewd bit of business. From a squad that seems to be struggling with the physical and technical demands of the Premier League, after eight losses in nine games, Ward has shown that he is one of the few that don’t look out of the place in the top flight.
After suffering nine defeats in their ten league matches this season, whoever the Palace board decide to bring in to replace Holloway will have to establish a starting eleven who will carry the heart and tenacity to retrieve Palace’s battling spirit, which catapulted them into the top flight originally. This battling spirit, which has regrettably gone missing, is optimised no more than by Joel Ward. If he is able to continue his fine run of form, maybe the rest of the team will begin to believe in themselves as well as the squad’s ability to pick up points in their upcoming games.
If Palace can do this, one thing is for sure; Joel Ward and the Eagles are not going to bow out of the Premier League without a fight.
Statistics from whoscored.com
