i can speak to that as i was one who was concerned but thought it was the right call and agree with you that he has been quite good today. the three concerns were a) he has struggled physically against quick mobile players moving into space next to him or behind him b) his speed of thought, while improving, sometimes is a bit slow which leads him to make challenges which in retrospect turn out to be rash - previous PKs c) there are times that he does flair plays when he had a simpler play at his disposal. the pull back/cruyff turn today while pretty much being the last man back is an example of that.
given that he is only 20, it is impossible to be down on him as he is showing great promise and a Toby like ability to figure out where the ball is going before it gets there. one would expect him to make mistakes at this age which is the cause for concern. It was still the right call to start him.
and i also wrote that i was concerned with KWP starting too so you can see how prescient that was
