Carlos Carvalhal says young striker Lucas Joao still has plenty to learn after his eye-catching full debut for Wednesday against Mansfield.
Joao scored the opening goal and received a standing ovation from the 14,000 crowd when he was subbed in the second half but Carvalhal had words of caution, saying: “He is still a boy, he is very young and a very talented player but he needs time.
“Do not create a lot of expectations around him because this can be not good for him. He is a really good player and what he did today is nothing different to what I expected but it is better not to create too many expectations because you are talking about a boy of 21 years old who must grow up and he needs time to improve and do better.”
Carvalhal, who was also very pleased with the debuts of Modou Sougou and Rhoys Wiggins, said of the overall performance against Mansfield: “We showed the same qualities, tempo and organisation as we did against Bristol on Saturday.”
He said: “We have scored 11 goals in the last three games and only let in one and we are very happy.”
But he added: “As I said on Saturday the win against Bristol was just a little step in a long marathon and now this is just a little step in this competition.”