Pele put in a miserable performance as Nottingham Forest suffered a 2-0 defeat to Sheffield United. The on-loan midfielder has struggled to nail down a starting place since joining from AS Monaco until the end of the season, and some supporters weren’t particularly impressed with his latest showing at Bramall Lane…
What does Pele actually do?? #nffc
— sam cowdell (@samcowdell) April 19, 2019
Genuinely forgot pele was playing that’s how ineffective he is #nffc
— TimLB (@NG_TMurphy) April 19, 2019
Yacob doing a better job then yates and pele combined #nffc
— Little Boi (@LittleBoi9) April 19, 2019
Murphy is shocking. Pele was shocking. Management is shocking. #nohope #nffc
— SteveC (@s831) April 19, 2019
Cash & pele are shocking #nffc
— Benjamin (@BenJoness100) April 19, 2019
Yacob has missed 11 games and still looks a class above. Absolutely mad that he got the Carvalho treatment while we were rolling out Watson, Pele and Yates instead #nffc
— Jordan (@_jw05) April 19, 2019
Against the Blades, Pele made just 17 touches, one clearance, blocked one shot and made 13 passes with 92% accuracy. In addition to being dispossessed twice, he failed to create a chance, complete a successful dribble, register a shot on target, win an aerial duel, make a tackle or make an interception.
The 27-year-old was hooked minutes after the restart, with Martin O’Neill sacrificing the midfielder after Forest went down to ten-men which highlights how little he impacted the game. Pele has made eight appearances in all competitions since his move from France, racking up just over 450 minutes of playing time.
In a Forest shirt, he’s averaged 25 passes-per-game with 78% accuracy, made five clearances, won 10 aerial duels (48%), made successful dribbles (70%) and has averaged a tackle (7) or interception (3) every 41 minutes. Pele had to wait a month to make his debut after signing in January, but he’s only started one league game since mid-March, so it’s hard to see a permanent move transpiring.
Crippy Cooke’s previous article
‘Terrible’, ‘Awful’ – some fans criticise Nottingham Forest midfielder after Friday’s defeat