As long as Newcastle keep doing what they are doing they won’t go down and would have had a decent enough season if unspectacular under manager and life long fan Steve Bruce.
However one cannot get away from the fact that the Magpies should be doing so much better, a top 7 team at least and trying to qualify for the Europa League. Of course you win, lose and draw as a team and no one wants to directly point the finger at one individual. But having said that surely there was more expected of Brazilian striker Joelinton?
Joelinton came in a flurry of media frenzy up in Newcastle, he’s South American and that brought back memories of the very entertaining if not volatile Faustino Asprillia, revered up here. It’s strange to think that Joelinton actually started the season well. He showed good speed, some technical skills and just when the fans were thinking ‘where are the goals’, he goes and gets the winner away to Tottenham of all teams- the same club that made the 2019 Champions League final. Not too bad.
But six months into the season he can be judged as a failure. That doesn’t mean his time in England is doomed, maybe he just needs readjustment to a different country and culture. Maybe his 2nd season will be HIS one. For now scoring just 1 goal this season is an utterly poor return on a player who cost Newcastle £40m last summer.
Maybe the problem lies though not so much with the player but with Newcastle and his former club Hoffenheim, after all it was the two parties who came to the agreement of £40m. That in itself isn’t a problem until you see the players stats.
For example he has never scored more than 8 league goals in a season and when he did it was for Austrian side Rapid Wien when he was on loan. One can imagine with all respect that football in the Austrian league is not of the highest standard. Even for Hoffenheim he managed just 7 goals in 29 league games. Plus why did no one at Newcastle see the alarm bells ringing given that Hoffenheim who had rated the striker so highly felt the need to loan him out to an Austrian league side?
So far he has 26 league goals in 7 seasons and that just won’t cut it. One doubts that he will suddenly become a star striker at 24 next season, and Newcastle fans can genuinely wonder why their manager did not look at buying another striker in the January transfer window. Had Joelinton scored for example another 10 goals, Newcastle would be in a great position now, instead this season as well as the player looks like a write off.
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