Think he needs to be given a bit more than half a season before we can properly judge him, to be honest. Personally, I think he's a little cracker who will cause many problems for a lot of teams we play and, at times, will frustrate our own fans.
I've been reading a few match reports on line trying to find one where the posters are reasonable and non-biased (a much more difficult task than you would imagine). I came across the Guardian, which was probably 80/20 RS posters as you would expect, but for some reason almost devoid of the usual trolls that spoil these sites.
I was surprised at the number of RS fans who were more than complimentary of us, in particular the technical ability of our midfield. One said that we had the second best technical midfield in the league after Chelsea, and lots were pointing out how comfortable on the ball our players are now. Bernard, along with Gomes and Siggy in particular, got loads of mentions. There were actually comments along the lines of they don't have a player like Siggy now that Coutinho has gone, somebody who can both see and execute that defence splitting pass he so often does for Walcott. The general consensus was that we were probably the best team they have played this season, and certainly the one that has caused them the most problems defensively.
The point I am making is that Silva and Brands have come an awful long way in such a short time. All the new players have settled in and players like Gana, Siggy and Keane have been given a new lease of life. But this is still very much a team and a system in it's early development. Bernard is a big part of that. All this talk about his size are nonsense. He can be our Juninho, our Silva or our Zola. He is streets ahead of Lookman at the moment, as is Walcott who adds a completely different type of threat and a variety to our attack.
Bernard will only get better as he gets used to the pace and ferocity of our league, and I'm looking forward to him building up a relationship with Digne to rival the one Baines had with Pienaar. The stand out thing for me is his attitude and his work rate. So many times you see these skilful players come with baggage, and Bernard, indeed all of our new players, don't appear to have any.
Lookman is very much one for the future and his time will come, probably tomorrow night against Newcastle. After the shift they put in Sunday, both Bernard and Walcott need a rest.
