Joe Willock

[Ronaldo]

Scored and got taken off injured in the first half.

[Ronson333]

Cracking 60 odd minutes, played brilliantly.

[Dokko]

Missing piece. Howe doing right by him in terms of minutes. Just need those kind of appearances to wear down the opposition. 

[Myleftboot]

Unlucky to be taken off.

[nufc123]

Not ready for a full game, but hes back.

[Elliottman]

23 minutes ago, Myleftboot said:

Unlucky to be taken off.

Not really, been out a long time, we need to look after him. He was excellent first first half, looked like his old self. 

[Pilko]

Great performance today. Hope he stays healthy 

[PauloGeordio]

He seems to have confidence in his body again. Big miss for us. Glad he's getting back to his old self.

[Kid Icarus]

Played really well again, as did Tonali when he came on. 

[TRon]

Our balance has looked so much better since he's come back in the side.

[Ronson333]

He and big Joe are lethal on that left side, Carragher on commentary had it spot on when he said Forest were confused who to mark because they were interchanging so much.

[PauloGeordio]

Willockino is back baby!

[Cronky]

I would like to officially change my opinion of this player. Defensively I had thought he was a weak link and that he wasn't strong enough under physical pressure. 

 

Maybe there's been a change in his fitness level, but either way, I take it all back.

[samptime29]

It also works because of Hall. We had the ball loads where Hall was moving forward and big joe and willock are ahead of him to left. We get into good crossing positions with 1-2-1's and our movement looks strong there.

[The College Dropout]

It still looked good with Gordon out there.  
 

Gordon is a bit of a weird player in terms of relationships with others.   I don’t think he has a great relationship with anyone. But he himself is a danger at all times. 
 

We look best as a team with Willock in the side undoubtedly 

[TRon]

13 minutes ago, samptime29 said:

It also works because of Hall. We had the ball loads where Hall was moving forward and big joe and willock are ahead of him to left. We get into good crossing positions with 1-2-1's and our movement looks strong there.

 

Just goes to show that the game isn't about individuals, it's about how players combine and work with each other. Willock, Joelinton and Longstaff are no one's idea of a midfield combo, but together they are running teams ragged.

[Kanj]

9 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

It still looked good with Gordon out there.  
 

Gordon is a bit of a weird player in terms of relationships with others.   I don’t think he has a great relationship with anyone. But he himself is a danger at all times. 
 

We look best as a team with Willock in the side undoubtedly 

Gordon needs to look for that final pass a bit more imho. So many times he goes hero mode when a cut back may be the right answer. Regardless, bang on. 

[Newcastle Fan]

A fully fit and hungry Willock is one of the best midfielders in the league, they didn't have an answer to him today and deserved at least an assist for his efforts today.

[M1tche]

Said ages ago that he was the reason our away form fell off last season. He's running on and off the ball is hard to replace. Being that quick, running with power, while also having good technical attributes is a bit of a cheat code.

[dave s]

coming back into form with a bang. we have missed him so badly. if we can get trips, wilson fit to help rest some, and botman back next spring.. full strength if no others take an injury 🤞

[Lush Vlad]

Him coming back into the team has been just as or more important than Longstaff, IMO. 

 

I think we take for granted those driving runs that regularly get us 30-40 yards up the pitch. He makes it look effortless, just gliding about with ease. 
 

He just needs to stay fit now. Can see why Howe is being careful with him and taking him off after an hour. 

[adamjk007]

Class to see him back somewhere near to his best, he is a real asset when he's on song. Love that left hand side with big Joe, makes such a huge difference to our attacking threat.

[alexf]

I liked that moment when Isak was sprinting for the ball and then Joe came flying past and took over and then delivered a lovely cross for the Isak volley. Would have been a great counter attack goal if we finished it. 

 

Said a few weeks ago, he was coming on and making no impact because he looked scared to stretch his legs, which is the biggest part of his game. 

 

But then that moment in the Chelsea cup game where he opened up and burst forwards over a long distance, I think was a big confidence booster to him mentally and maybe helped him trust his body wasn't going to fail him again.

 

He's looked back to his old self ever since. Great asset to the team. 

[Kanj]

Happy that he now has about 2 weeks worth of training and rest to keep building the fitness and strength levels too. 
 

I was worried he was mentally cooked when he was playing earlier this season and more that we maybe lost our little Joe to too many injuries. Thankfully I was wrong. He looks sharp as he did before the injury and just flies over the pitch. 

[TRon]

29 minutes ago, alexf said:

I liked that moment when Isak was sprinting for the ball and then Joe came flying past and took over and then delivered a lovely cross for the Isak volley. Would have been a great counter attack goal if we finished it. 

 

Said a few weeks ago, he was coming on and making no impact because he looked scared to stretch his legs, which is the biggest part of his game. 

 

But then that moment in the Chelsea cup game where he opened up and burst forwards over a long distance, I think was a big confidence booster to him mentally and maybe helped him trust his body wasn't going to fail him again.

 

He's looked back to his old self ever since. Great asset to the team. 

 

One thing which has really caught the eye is the quality of his deliveries even if we aren't scoring from a lot of them. Even early on he stood one up perfectly from the left which we didn't convert because we had no one coming in at the back post. He always threatens much more than we actually get in the end result, but feels like it could easily convert to goals given a run of form from himself and other forwards. He needs to rediscover the goals, we've seen he has it in his locker.