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

[mighty__mag]

On 01/01/2024 at 22:27, Kid Icarus said:

I love Willock but it's not even just that we miss him specifically, it's that we miss the likes of Joelinton and Gordon being at full blast because Willock can step in and give them a rest.

 

They perform better when Willock is in the team with them. Well Joelinton does especially, Gordon hasn't really had as much play time.

 

Our best effective midfield is the Joe's and Bruno. We just flow better with those boys at maximum levels.

[alexf]

Yeah can't be throwing injure prone at him yet. He had a really bad hamstring pull meaning he got no preseason and then came back and had to play lots of minutes straight away and suffered another injury as most would. 

 

This season is almost a right off for him unfortunately, kind of mirrors the whole team, and would be one of the examples of perhaps our medical department not managing our returning players strongly compared with the other unfortunate freak injuries we also sustained. 

 

But I have sympathy. Who else could have played in those games we asked him to play? As we have already seen the squad is empty below the surface. I'm pretty sure even Miley was out with glandular fever around that time aswell? 

[80]

55 minutes ago, Jesse Pinkman said:

Would personally sell him in the summer if it means we don’t need to sell Botman, Bruno or Isak. He’s barely fit and I can see another team paying £40m.

Given the (lack of) season he's had so far, I'm not so sure. But yeah, if we could get that much for him it would have to be taken seriously. Unfortunately.

[huss9]

trying to sell our stars  such as willock for massive fees.

seems due to ffp as it is it'll only be the top 6 or Real/PSG spending big money.

other than Bruno or Isak non would get into their teams.

so if we sell it wont be for what we expect.

if FFP changes we may not have to sell anyway.

[80]

1 minute ago, huss9 said:

trying to sell our stars  such as willock for massive fees.

seems due to ffp as it is it'll only be the top 6 or Real/PSG spending big money.

other than Bruno or Isak non would get into their teams.

so if we sell it wont be for what we expect.

if FFP changes we may not have to sell anyway.

It's stuff like this that used to make me smug about stopping paying attention to football. What a soulless piece of shit the whole enterprise is nowadays. Might as well support crypto currencies and make money through your hobby.

[Matt1892]

He was one of our most important players last year, if anything it appears he was rushed back too soon this year and we have paid the price for that.

 

Outside of Bruno a fit Willock is our most important player in the midfield.

[Erikse]

1 hour ago, mighty__mag said:

 

They perform better when Willock is in the team with them. Well Joelinton does especially, Gordon hasn't really had as much play time.

 

Our best effective midfield is the Joe's and Bruno. We just flow better with those boys at maximum levels.

 

Not sure. Last season we were really missing Longstaff when we were playing with the midfield that you mentioned. Did their performances get much better before he was back in? I don't remember. Willock has barely played this season. I think our best period in the second half of last season was when Joelinton started as LW and swapped with Willock.

[Ronaldo]

Best midfield 3 is Bruno, Tonali and 1 of Willock and Joelinton - with 1 of them playing LW and alternating.

[tgarve]

11 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

Best midfield 3 is Bruno, Tonali and 1 of Willock and Joelinton - with 1 of them playing LW and alternating.

So you would drop Gordon from LW?

[janpawel]

20 minutes ago, Erikse said:

 

Not sure. Last season we were really missing Longstaff when we were playing with the midfield that you mentioned. Did their performances get much better before he was back in? I don't remember. Willock has barely played this season. I think our best period in the second half of last season was when Joelinton started as LW and swapped with Willock.

Agree, people forget Longstaff played in majority of our games, including our best games. With Willock / Joelinton LCM and LW mainly. 

[Ronaldo]

6 minutes ago, tgarve said:

So you would drop Gordon from LW?

No. I’d play him RW away from home and LW at SJP, generally speaking. Rotation is good. 

[cubaricho]

58 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

No. I’d play him RW away from home and LW at SJP, generally speaking. Rotation is good. 

And Gordon being on the LW he always cuts in anyway. Overlapping cover from one of the Joe’s. 

[mighty__mag]

1 hour ago, Erikse said:

 

Not sure. Last season we were really missing Longstaff when we were playing with the midfield that you mentioned. Did their performances get much better before he was back in? I don't remember. Willock has barely played this season. I think our best period in the second half of last season was when Joelinton started as LW and swapped with Willock.

I'll never get his assist to Isak vs spurs out of my head, it's engraved now forever, in that particular fixture (The 6-1) Willock featured in the middle with Bruno and Longstaff, but Joelinton was LW, but Willock mostly played out wide during the game, they used to alternate and switch during the game. Willock is key to a lot of the things we're currently missing, you realise this and what he brings so much more when you don't have him. Eddie had so many options when everyone is available, especially how many can operate in various roles, but he's just not had the fortune to test anything this year.

[timeEd32]

3 hours ago, Ronaldo said:

Best midfield 3 is Bruno, Tonali and 1 of Willock and Joelinton - with 1 of them playing LW and alternating.

I think we would have seen this team a lot with Gordon at RW. 

[Zero]

4 hours ago, Matt1892 said:

He was one of our most important players last year, if anything it appears he was rushed back too soon this year and we have paid the price for that.

 

Outside of Bruno a fit Willock is our most important player in the midfield.

 

I just hope it won’t be a long term issue, or else we may have potentially ruin a player that should be able to contribute for many years

[Miercoles]

Convinced we won't see him play significant minutes again this season.

 

I've never heard of a minor Achilles injury.

[TheBrownBottle]

6 hours ago, Ronaldo said:

Best midfield 3 is Bruno, Tonali and 1 of Willock and Joelinton - with 1 of them playing LW and alternating.

Tonali didn’t exactly pull up trees when he did play tbh.  In terms of what we’ve actually seen, the midfield still looked better with Longstaff

[r0cafella]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

Tonali didn’t exactly pull up trees when he did play tbh.  In terms of what we’ve actually seen, the midfield still looked better with Longstaff

The longstaff of last season you can argue; he’s been pretty bad this season. 

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, r0cafella said:

The longstaff of last season you can argue; he’s been pretty bad this season. 

Yeah, he has.  But I don’t think Tonali looked particularly great when he played.  I don’t doubt that his potential levels are higher, though. 

[Ben]

We picked up when Longstaff came back into the team at the beginning of the season.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Ben said:

We picked up when Longstaff came back into the team at the beginning of the season.

 

Which coincided with us just having played Brighton, City and Liverpool, and before the shit hit the fan injuries wise. 

[Isaksbigrightfoot]

What specifically is his injury. Achilles tear?

 

And what is Barnes injury. Stubbed Toe?

[Pablo123]

I think Barnes has something called "turf toe". I'd never heard of it until last week. We are talking about Alan, aren't we?

 

Looking forward to Willock being back. He was in superb form before doing his hamstring. Hopefully see him back soon.

[Ginola14]

miss having him even just coming off the bench when he can be so effective 

[Turnbull2000]

Turf toe (which I'd never heard of either), looks like a rare, debilitating long-term injury, so explains the long absence, and would be surprised if he features much again this season. Likewise with Willock - achilles are a bad one, so expecting limited game time. Hope I'm wrong.