I think he's played well. Works hard moving into space and giving under pressure defenders options.
When he goes backwards it's often (not always, often) because he's not got space to get a forward pass off that has a good chance of success or the forward players are moving into dead ends. Could be under instruction from Don Carlo not to risk possession on low percentage passes. Often whoever he goes back to has that little bit more space and better options.
Seems like every pass he plays forward is a low percentage pass