When he came on the pitch tonight, for perhaps the first time I appreciated his natural (maybe unnatural) influence upon a game of football. He is a deer in the forest. Once startled, he eventually progresses. He senses the danger around him. Sometimes he is too slow to slip away. But often he's swift and deceptively smart with the ball at his feet (for this league anyway). We're better when he plays. Seemed to me tonight anyway. But we didn't win.