Joe 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.

[AmericanLooneyToon]

1 hour ago, Pablo123 said:

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.

Players in the NFL get it. Unfortunatly, it can be unpredictable because the pain lingers when you bend the toe but it certainly makes sense why it is taking so long.

 

I'm not sure there are many injuries left for our players to undertake. 

[Coffee_Johnny]

4 hours ago, 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

Fair enough but looked really, really promising against Villa. Though still without really clicking/being on the same wavelength as Bruno; which takes game time and working on same side repeatedly in training. After that, non-verbals looked off and performance dipped.
Personally I think it was because he knew what was coming. I watched some of his Milan and Italy snippets a few weeks ago, no doubting he’ll be one hell of an asset/upgrade when on form. 

[Coffee_Johnny]

9 minutes ago, AmericanLooneyToon said:

Players in the NFL get it. Unfortunatly, it can be unpredictable because the pain lingers when you bend the toe but it certainly makes sense why it is taking so long.

 

I'm not sure there are many injuries left for our players to undertake. 

Chipped a bone in the joint if my big toe about three years ago. Still hurts at times and my performance, ball striking, definitely affected. Pretty sure I could hit top bins from 25 yards 9 times out of 10 before that (… last bit may not be strictly true )

[Kid Icarus]

13 hours 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.

 

I keep saying it, but it depends on the opposition and how Howe wants us to win the match, whether it's ball carrying, possession, pressing etc. Sometimes our best midfield will be Bruno, Willock, Joelinton, other times it'll be Bruno, Tonali plus Willock or Joelinton with them dovetailing. There are other variations too and ironically with everyone available we have a lot of flexibility in there. 

[Pablo123]

15 minutes ago, AmericanLooneyToon said:

Players in the NFL get it. Unfortunatly, it can be unpredictable because the pain lingers when you bend the toe but it certainly makes sense why it is taking so long.

 

I'm not sure there are many injuries left for our players to undertake. 

Don't tempt fate!

[PauloGeordio]

????

[GeordieDazzler]