Every cloud has a silver lining, doesn’t it?
No matter how frustrating last night was for all of us, a desperately poor performance which manager Sabri Lamouchi admitted after the final whistle. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Reds. Yes, we managed to salvage a point and there were some good individual performances out there.
One of which was from Joao Carvalho, who made such a difference when he came on. I was amazed that he didn’t start. He is a player that deserves a lengthy run in the first team and not just a spluttering of minutes here and there.
Should João Carvalho be the first name on the Forest teamsheet?
Yes
No
During the 21 minutes that he played, he managed to complete two key passes and accumulated a pass success rate of 75% (as per Sofascore) in a game where the link between the defence and attack was very much unhinged. When introduced, Carvalho became the critical link between the two.
As well as John Bostock, Carvalho provided balance and brought an element of composure to the midfield, which is essential during any race for promotion. Let’s not forget, the 22-year-old was our club-record signing and rarely starts a game in comparison to last season. A few months ago, he was even linked with a move away to the likes of Turkish outfit Trabzonspor and reigning Greek champions Olympiakos (as per SDNA). But after last night’s performance, Lamouchi must think twice about his starting midfield quartet as we now have ten games to seal a return to the Premier League.
Forest struggled badly at the Riverside. Had it not been for Lewis Grabban, we might have been having a different conversation entirely.
