I packed him on Christmas eve, in a 7.5k pack. I played some games with him and I found my problem was the act that I wanted him on the ball all the time and gave it to him in bad positions, and it made him feel sluggish.

Yes, that's always the temptation.

What I try and do is deliberatly not use him until the game is going badly, play as a team and work it around him and he usually scores