Joao Carvalho is the kind of player who loves to entertain, and he definitely did that in Nottingham Forest’s win over Middlesbrough.
He was brilliant at the City Ground on Monday.
When he plays like that, dropping into little holes and pockets of space, he’s difficult for defenders to pick up.
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What I really like about him is, the first thing in his mind when he gets the ball is to turn.
The gaffer, Brian Clough, always said to me, ‘the first thing you should look to do is turn’. If the turn isn’t on, then you look to pass it to someone else, knock it backwards or sideways, but your instinct should be to turn and take people on.
That’s what Carvalho was doing Former Nottingham Forest star praises 'different class' Joao Carvalho
It takes the pressure off others - the likes of Joe Lolley and Matty Cash - when he’s in that kind of form. And it lifts everyone else in the team when you see someone giving the opposition the runaround.
You need everyone chipping in with creating chances and working defenders; if that’s shared around a bit, it helps everyone out. You don’t want to be relying on one person all the time.
I know the fans have been calling for Carvalho to start in recent weeks, but the manager, Martin O’Neill, won’t have left him out of the team for the sake of it. He will have been taking everything into consideration.
Martin will have been watching Carvalho in training, looking at how he’s been doing and trying to see what his best position is - that’s the same for everyone in the squad.
Carvalho was given more of a free role on Monday, which seemed to suit him. He could get on the ball as much as he liked and express himself - that’s what everyone wanted to see.
Former Nottingham Forest star praises 'different class' Joao Carvalho
His talent has never been in doubt, you can see he’s a skillful player. But the Championship is fast and frenetic - it can be difficult for anyone to adapt to.
Carvalho couldn’t play against Sheffield United last week anyway because of a concussion. Maybe Martin saw something in training which convinced him to give him a start on Monday. Maybe he thought, ‘he looks fit, he looks sharp, let’s put him in the XI’.
I’m only guessing. Martin will have his reasons when it comes to picking his team.
Fair play to Carvalho, though, he really showed everyone what he can do.
Now you want to see that consistently from him. I'm sure he'll have learnt a lot from his first season in the Championship.
I hope he plays the last two games and shows that performance wasn’t a one off.
