Eddie Howe says they have been working with Joelinton on aspects of his game which were evident last night
Joelinton looked fired up last night as Newcastle United beat Athletic Club Bilbao 2-0 in the Champions League at St James' Park.
The Magpies' incredible home form continued last night as they picked up a third Champions League victory of the campaign, thanks to goals from Dan Burn and Joelinton.
We've been uncharacteristically critical of Joelinton recently, maybe because we hold him in such high regard that when his form dips, it's very noticeable, and his form this season has certainly dipped.
However, other than a couple of wayward finishes last night, particularly the one he skied over the bar from about five yards out (thankfully, play was pulled back for handball), he had a fantastic game in the middle of the park.
Eddie Howe has been encouraging Joelinton to get into the box more often
His headed goal early in the second half was quality, but his finish in the first half, which was ruled out for the most marginal of offsides, was the better goal, and probably a passage of play that Eddie Howe was most proud of, given what he said about the Brazilian after the game.
“He (Joelinton) needs to score. He’s always done that, a scorer of big goals for us. We’ve worked a lot recently in the last few weeks of him arriving late in the box and using his aerial strength from crosses.
“I was really pleased with that goal for him because we need our 8s and our wide men to chip in with more goals so hopefully that’s a good start for him.”
Joelinton was often the furthest man forward last night
We saw it several times last night, Joelinton bursting through the middle to get on the end of crosses. In fact, he was usually the furthest man forward, given Nick Woltemade's propensity to come deep to receive the ball.
If we're going to continue to play with Woltemade coming in to search for the ball, we need someone to overlap and get in the box, so it's good to see that they're working on that.
We could be about to see the return of Joelinton the striker ... just hopefully, with better results.
