Nwakali

He was the best player by a mile at Cambridge, I completely agree. But he was chucked on somewhat by necessity rather than choice. I agree with you and others that he should be the first name on the teamsheet henceforth, but I'm also assuming that there are good reasons why he's not been starting up until today. I guess we'll find out against Leyton Orient. If he's back on the bench while Connell starts, I will start coming round to your theory that the first team management at Oakwell are incompetent, because Connell has been mostly gash for most of the season. But for now, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.

 

I see him in a Ray McHale role dominating the centre circle spraying balls about with ease.He does seem to be the best passer at the club.

 

Played really well & I’m glad he got the goal his play deserved.

It’s a weird one because although we’ve had a 6 game winless run we’ve actually played well in quite a few of the games.

We were by some distance the better side in the Reading draw & we were the better side against Wigan in a pretty drab affair.

I’m not going to blame the manager for not throwing him in away at Wrexham & I also wouldn’t have started him at home to Birmingham in those weather conditions.

Anyway he’s earned his spot now & there’s no excuses for him not starting going forwards.

 

Not really, he made a noticeable difference imo.

 

Undoubtedly, his quality on the ball is amazing.

My only reservation is does he do enough off the ball and will he do it consistently throughout the season? The only way of finding out is from playing him as he's the type of player that will put bums on seats if managed correctly.

 

I went to the fa cup game, he wasn’t noticeably better or worse then anyone else, his performance didn’t scream “he had to start next game”.

 

I remember some idiot in the Paddock (aka Brewery Stand), slagging Glavin off for not working hard enough. We pay good money to watch players do things the rest of us can’t. I will be very unhappy if Nkwali is not the first name on the team sheet for the rest of the season.

 

And now?

 

Apologies to you Royston.
I started another thread on KN not knowing you had posted this.

 

He was our best player that day by a distance, borne out by him getting man of the match in Jimmy Viz's poll.

 

Far more quality than Connell when he is on the ball over 93%pass completion rate yesterday. Would love him to start the match next week.

 

I was just about to say I don't think I've seen him make a mistake yet, albeit I am watching most of the time on a dodgy feed. 93% success rate sounds about right.

 

Passes - Completed vs Attempted

Shrewsbury: 5/7
Cambridge: 56/63
Wigan: 17/17
Birmingham: 8/9
Exeter: 56/60

Total: 142/152 = 93%

219 minutes of league football.

 

3year deal

 

My view of what he does off the ball is that he positions himself so he can be found easily and reads the game quickly so that he can assess all available options before he gets the ball.

 

Agreed. Was thinking yesterday that he'd probably stand out in the Championship.

 

That's quite incredible.

 

The Nigerians were pretty shocked he'd signed for 'lowly rated Barnsley' as well. Apologies if already posted.

 

he is not the first midfielder who we signed and has played for Arsenal.

I do not think his predecessor had such glowing reports. His name started with a Frim and ended with a pong. (as an aside the current Mrs DR worked with Frimpong's cousin for a while.)

On a serious note though, how long before Nwakali is a marked man with the opposition trying to "clog" him off the park?