Written by Jack Aylward
During Nottingham Forest’s win over promotion contenders Middlesbrough, £13 million player Joao Carvalho stood out on the pitch due to his classy performance.
Joao began the game as he finished, brilliantly. Throughout the game he was allowed to roam free, taking on defenders and challenging the opposition to the ball due to Martin O’Neill’s decision to play a 3-4-2-1 formation instead of his classic 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2, etc that he used previously.
The 3-4-2-1 formation allowed midfielder Joe Lolley, along with Carvalho, to express themselves and get into attacking positions. Giving them the freedom was was an excellent decision by O’Neill as it allowed the duo to play stylish, open football.
Joao and Joe’s jobs were to ‘sit’ behind striker Karim Ansarifard who was tasked with finishing off the end product for Carvalho and Lolley’s amazing runs past the opposition’s defense. This allowed the two central attacking midfielders to open up play and eventually feed in Karim.
O’Neill subsequently got to understand how the Portuguese midfielder performs and why he should have been playing the young star more often.
In conclusion, Martin will now undoubtedly take Carvalho into consideration for future lineups as a result of his outstanding performance in front of a packed City Ground.
