Nottingham Forest midfielder João Carvalho made just his third appearance under the management of Martin O’Neill against Stoke City.
It was a big opportunity for the 21-year-old midfielder to prove his worth. He replaced Ben Watson early in the second half, much to the excitement of the away support.
However, he wasn’t able to make the impact he would’ve liked. Apart from forcing Jack Butland into a smart save shortly after coming on, he struggled to get himself into the game.
His involvement in the home side’s second goal also won’t have done him any favours. He lost possession too easily, allowing Tom Ince to pick out Benik Afobe who calmly found the back of the net.
In truth, the Reds didn’t look like getting themselves back into the match anyway.
It would be extremely harsh to judge Carvalho based on this performance alone. Considering the Portugal Under-21 international had only previously played 37 minutes of football under O’Neill, it was never likely he’d come on and make a huge impact.
Confidence
Carvalho is most likely lacking confidence. O’Neill has recently favoured a midfield trio of Jack Colback, Ben Watson and Ryan Yates. It won’t have been easy for Carvalho to have watched on from the sidelines.
Although the Reds have looked more solid of late, there have been games where Carvalho’s creativity and flair has been missing.
The issue is that Carvalho will need a run of games to get himself going again. It’s impossible for a player to hit form when they’ve spent such a significant amount of time out of the team.
Not only this, but the midfielder was asked to play out wide against the Potters. This is clearly a position he isn’t used to playing in. It will take time for him to adapt to this, but it may be his best bet of getting in the side moving forward.
If Matty Cash still hasn’t returned, Carvalho might get another opportunity to impress against Hull at the City Ground.
Value
It will be interesting to see how Carvalho’s future plays out at the end of the season. If he isn’t part of O’Neill’s plans, would he really want another season sat on the sidelines?
In this case, it won’t be an easy decision for the Reds. Having spent £13.2 million on the midfielder in the summer, the club’s hierarchy will be hoping he can still be a success.
It’s fair to say they wouldn’t recoup anywhere near that amount if they were to sell him in the summer.
However, he has still managed to score three goals and rack up six assists this season. He’s shown numerous flashes of brilliance. His link-up play with both Lewis Grabban and Joe Lolley made the Reds almost unplayable at one stage.
Unfortunately for him, he just wasn’t able to produce these performances consistently enough. His development has only been set-back further with his lack of game time recently.
Whether or not he is given a chance by O’Neill to prove he can be effective in his system remains to be seen.
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