Joe Willock has not trained yet but is making 'good progress' (Howe)

[Nine]

29 minutes ago, JumpersForGoalposts said:

We have one injury prone PL standard striker. I'm not sure in what way CM could be construed as more of a priority than CF at this time.

 

 

 

I’d say they are of equal priority, also harsh on Wood he will be playing a part this season 

[Kid Icarus]

Class performance

 

 

[Guest HTT II]

Very good today, that’s more like it.

[Newcastle Fan]

So good on and off the ball today, love his energy.

[STM]

I dunno if it was just me but he looked as if he had grown. Size and power was great.

[joeyt]

Really good today.  You forget he's only 22, got so much potential

[Super Duper Branko Strupar]

Think he absolutely has the ability to nail down the 3rd midfield place for us if we dont get a new signing in there. I think his quality is clear but direction and a manager who understands his strengths is important for a player like him. Thankfully I think we have that. I'd hope he is our 3rd choice CM for the most part (tactics will change for certain games Im sure) and if he is I think he'll just improve as the season goes on.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Super Duper Branko Strupar

[christ]

Think he’s going to have an absolutely massive season. So excited to see what he can do as part of that midfield three.

[Kid Icarus]

He did so many good things today like, closing down, good runs, great first touch (especially that chest down to set himself up), really good at finding wiggle room to face up defenders, a few good crosses, great energy and enthusiasm. Loved all of it, really played well.

[Kanj]

Really like him, always have and he looks confident and assertive in what he does. 

[Mike]

Coukd really see what Bruce saw in him today.

[TRon]

1 hour ago, STM said:

I dunno if it was just me but he looked as if he had grown. Size and power was great.

 

I didn't really see that tbh. I thought he was closing down pretty well last season as well under Howe, the only criticism I had was his final touch or pass was sometimes astray.That's still the case now really, but he's shown a great attitude since Howe came in, and as said above, he's still only 22 and could really go on to be a good player. He's covering Miggy levels of ground these days, really box to box. Probably scoring less goals because of it, but his team contribution is much better.

[ExiledGeordie]

His athleticism and ability to stretch the field particularly on the break is massive. Looked pretty confident today but like a few just needs to tune up a bit which will come with games.

[Tiresias]

I doubted some saying he should play out wide as alternative to Almiron but he seemed to be drifting wide to those spaces as Almiron came inside. Maaaybe. 

[STM]

22 man. That's actually quite something. 

 

He's already very good. Another 4 years under Howe? He could be an excellent player for us. I hope he grows at the same rate as the club.

[Gallowgate Toon]

He's got the potential to be an England player, tbh. So many potential elements to his game that just need refining.

[STM]

BTW, we should probably take a serious look at his brother. Got two years left on his contract at QPR. Scored a worldie today.

 

Would be a good one for the future.

[FLUMPO235]

2 hours ago, STM said:

I dunno if it was just me but he looked as if he had grown. Size and power was great.

Just watching the highlights, he looks about 6 inches taller and at least a stone heavier! 
 

Can’t say I noticed it in the pre season. 
 

?

[Flip]

As anonymous yesterday as his thread on here. 

[gbandit]

Yeah, he had no impact on the game at all yesterday. Not all his own fault though as our ball retention throughout the team was poor 

[tomlynnherrington]

He goes missing too often for me.For an attacking midfield player he creates little,rarely scores and never gets beyond the opposition defenders.I see more in Murphy and he’s far from the answer in midfield.

[gbandit]

Willock is a better player than Murphy could ever dream to be 

[Jinky]

Like the lad, but he's just not good enough.

[gbandit]

Let’s try not to write off a 22-year old who’s had some really quality games for us

[TRon]

I thought he was ok tbh. No threat on goal, but he seems to be playing more of an all round midfield role these days, putting in more of a shift defensively rather than getting on the end of chances like when he was here on loan.