Joao Carvalho

[zicorice]

Good to hear the players are actually being coached though

It was a 100% necessity, in this case. If someone hadn't started coaching the poor lad I'd have ended up with self-inflicted baldness, from pulling my hair out this season.

I've held back on these stats, until the mood became more positive, as I wanted fans behind the club, rather than squabbling over an individual, but our #10 is 8th, in this squad, when it comes to shots per game, behind Yates & Guédioura, amongst others.

A #10 should be top 5 in that stat, & certainly not behind deeper sitting midfielders & he's 9th in passing accuracy, another area he should be top 5.

In terms of actual number of passes he averages 32, which is 12th.

Of course a #10 isn't just about creativity, if you defend from the front, as all teams should, a #10 is also key to keeping the opposition locked in. Look at the game Monday night, Murphy & Yates shut down Huddlestone & because of that 60% of Derby's possession was with their defensive players, in their defensive third of the pitch, effectively neutering them.

Our #10 comes 16th in our squad when it comes to average tackles per game, 22nd when it comes to interceptions (Ryan Yates has already made more in total, in 20 games less), & Carvalho is 18th when it comes to blocking the ball.

He's also 3rd in our squad when it comes to being dispossessed, & 2nd when it comes to losing the ball through bad ball control.

Those stats are totally unacceptable for a #10, because they present the ball to the opposition far to often & provide no defensive line between the opposition & our deep lying midfielders, inviting pressure on to our team.

Essentially, when the opposition is in possession, we've been effectively playing with 10 men.

This should have been scouted before the player was signed & dealt with on the training ground in pre-season.

I don't blame the lad, he's 21, a stranger in a strange land, so he only knows what he knows, but our coaches let him down badly, at cost to this club.

I'm sorry. I just composed a very long (appropriately sanctimonious and full of self importance) reply to this. In my haste I deleted it as I proof read it and can't be bothered to type it again. In short (Well alot shorter), stats out of context tell you very little. Keogh had most touches, most successful passes and highest passing accuracy on Monday night and I don't remember crapping myself every time He got the ball. (Sheep fans did though).
For all I know NG3 you may be the 1st team analyst posting under an assumed name, but to say we effectively played with 10 men when out of possession is an appalling sleight on a player who worked his nuts off closing down opponents. There are clearly people who look up to you on here as you may (or may not?) have some insights inside the club and your views are rarely (If ever) challenged and debated. If you are too portray yourself as such, then in a quote from spiderman "with great power comes great responsibility". You have very neatly and in an articulate manner done a complete hatchet job on our record signing. At times you are intelligent enough to actually come across as a plant from close to the day to day goings on at the club, but the way some of your posts have come across in recent times have been somewhat condescending-not just to me. I hate to get involved in internet squabbles, but following the post on Carvalho I felt someone had to challenge this. I respect all opinions, but I also recognise the potential for borderline indoctrination to filter in. For the record, I loved watching Carvalho play, but 100% support MON and the more pragmatic approach required to achieve what we all want. I hope this doesn't sound like a personal attack, it is not meant too, but I like this forum and don't want to see it slide down a slippery slope.
Hand grenade dropped, off to get ready for my train now......