Joe Willock

[Holmesy]

Said it before, if he had end product he'd be a £50-60m player. But he doesn't and never will have, which is why we should cash in while his stock is still relatively high.

He's the kind of squad player we should be looking to upgrade as we evolve - onwards and upwards

[Shearergol]

I mean, he had end product, so saying he never will have is a bit of a stretch.

[nufcjmc]

15 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

I mean, he had end product, so saying he never will have is a bit of a stretch.

The end product seemly dried up following the loan spell though his stats outside of the context of minutes played isn't great. Not sure what he's meant to be he's not physical enough to be a DM and isn't potent enough to be a goal scoring midfield his driving runs we all enjoyed a few seasons ago has been replaced by underwhelming and frustratingly poor performances. 

 

https://www.premierleague.com/players/14446/Joe-Willock/stats

 

 

 

 

Edited April 27 by nufcjmc

[Sibierski]

48 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

Murphy was “shit” until a run in the team. Barnes was “shit” until a run in the team.

 

you’d think we’d learn.

I think the issue with Willock, if he gets a run in team he gets better, but for that CM role that won’t happen. It’s going to be couple games in couple games out, and so we need players that are up to speed and not require confidence building up. 
 

I like Willock, but he needs to improve his game in terms of being confident/conditioned to come in as and when we need him to make impacts straight away. Otherwise we get back to situations of not being able to rotate midfield confidently.

[Holmesy]

19 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

I mean, he had end product, so saying he never will have is a bit of a stretch.

I disagree. He used to regularly get in good positions and then balloon his shot over the bar, like clockwork. That’s the part of his game we all thought Eddie would improve but if anything he’s gone backwards. The assists side of his game is also pretty poor too.

i love his energy and running but it’s not enough.

[Terrymac1966]

The stats don't lie and he doesnt have the tools of a Murphy who could always cross and always shoot when he was bang average but just not as well as he has this season.

Willock runs ....then what???

Good tackler x

Good crosser x

Good hard striker of the ball x

Assists x

Good in the air x

Good hairdo x

[Groundhog63]

1 hour ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

He's shit. He was decent once upon a time but in 2025 he's offering very little and it feels like we've been waiting for him to recapture his form for a while now. He's not even doing the little things well, his first touch is all over the place, decision making questionable and his shooting... My god, I'd rather see Nick Pope have a pop from the edge of his box than see Willock have a go from the edge of theirs.

Text Eddie. He's, obviously, got it all wrong 

[Dr.Spaceman]

3 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

Text Eddie. He's, obviously, got it all wrong 

 

He hasn't though, he's barely picked him all season 

[Dr.Spaceman]

1 hour ago, Shearergol said:

Murphy was “shit” until a run in the team. Barnes was “shit” until a run in the team.

 

you’d think we’d learn.

 

Harvey Barnes was never shit.

[Menace]

Murphy was regularly shit even when he got a run in as well so that post was a bit nonsense tbf 

[Shearergol]

5 minutes ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

 

Harvey Barnes was never shit.

According to plenty on here he was.

[Holmesy]

15 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

Text Eddie. He's, obviously, got it all wrong 

It's not that he has it wrong - he's just using the tools he has at his disposal. I'm sure if he had a better option in the squad, that option would be picked over Willock. His versatility and energy are his strengths but if you offered Eddie those attributes with goals and assists added in, we likely wouldn't see Willock again.

 

 

Edited April 27 by Holmesy

[Holloway]

Any criticism coming his way is from the 'angry lads'

He wasn't fine yesterday, he was anonymous. Even the co comms stated he had a very frustrating afternoon

[Dr.Spaceman]

5 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

According to plenty on here he was.

 

You must be new here.

[Shearergol]

3 minutes ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

 

You must be new here.

Kinda my point like

[arnonel]

Apparently you are either a world beater or shit

 

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

I think Willock's issue beyond confidence in his body and a run in the team, is that he isn’t really a central midfield player. He’s a bit of a hybrid 8/ wide forward. Now that the team has developed and we have better options on the left side of attack, where does he fit in? There was a period where him and Big Joe dovetailed well, but are you going to drop Gordon or Barnes to accommodate him? 
 

We need genuine midfield options and I am not sure if Willock suits us any longer.

[nufcjmc]

3 minutes ago, arnonel said:

Apparently you are either a world beater or shit

 

I put him in the squad player sub appearance bracket but he's an asset that cost nearly 30m for that outlay I would want more. Hence why I am happy for him to be sold being the main man starting more games may get him back to the Willock we loaned. 

[The Prophet]

Peak Willock was decent. Press resident, lovely burst of pace and dangerous on the break.

 

He's not really had a look in since his injury, due to the form of Gordon. He's not set the world alight in his sub appearances, but I'm reluctant to write him off without regular first team football.

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

2 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Peak Willock was decent. Press resident, lovely burst of pace and dangerous on the break.

 

He's not really had a look in since his injury, due to the form of Gordon. He's not set the world alight in his sub appearances, but I'm reluctant to write him off without regular first team football.

Yeah but as I said earlier, that form was on the left side of our front three. Would you seriously put him in there ahead of Gordon or Barnes? Look back at the stats of the 22/23 season, we were massively reliant on Trippier and Miggy on the right for goals and assists, as Willock didn’t really create or score enough. Was that mitigated in some fashion by him having Burn behind him? Maybe, but Gordon massively outperformed him in similar circumstances last year.

[The Prophet]

13 minutes ago, Ghandis Flip-Flop said:

Yeah but as I said earlier, that form was on the left side of our front three. Would you seriously put him in there ahead of Gordon or Barnes? Look back at the stats of the 22/23 season, we were massively reliant on Trippier and Miggy on the right for goals and assists, as Willock didn’t really create or score enough. Was that mitigated in some fashion by him having Burn behind him? Maybe, but Gordon massively outperformed him in similar circumstances last year.

 

He started LCM and interchanged with Big Joe. 

 

He needed to add more end product to his game, but he never really got the chance to kick on.

 

I know folk are absolutely repulsed by the idea of having a squad, but we're already short in CM. If we can get him back to anywhere near his best, he's a useful player.

 

 

Edited April 27 by The Prophet

[nufcjmc]

2 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

He started LCM and interchanged with Big Joe. 

 

He needed to add more end product, to his game, but he never really got the chance to kick on.

 

I know folk are absolutely repulsed by the idea of having a squad, but we're already short in CM. If we can get him back to anywhere near his best, he's a useful player.

He signed a 6 year deal I think in 2021 so by the summer he's 26 with 2 seasons left on his deal.  How long is he given to rediscover something? He's a saleable asset and a decent offer I am already at the sell rather than him getting a new deal he may have been unlucky with injury and not good enough to be displacing those starting over him that's just the life of an ever changing team and squad they don't all make it. 

[The Prophet]

Just now, nufcjmc said:

He signed a 6 year deal I think in 2021 so by the summer he's 26 with 2 seasons left on his deal.  How long is he given to rediscover something? He's a saleable asset and a decent offer I am already at the sell rather than him getting a new deal he may have been unlucky with injury and not good enough to be displacing those starting over him that's just the life of an ever changing team and squad they don't all make it. 

 

It's all relative though isn't it? Everyone is a sellable asset at the right price. I just wouldn't be actively looking to shift him.

[macphisto]

2 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

He started LCM and interchanged with Big Joe. 

 

He needed to add more end product, to his game, but he never really got the chance to kick on.

 

I know folk are absolutely repulsed by the idea of having a squad, but we're already short in CM. If we can get him back to anywhere near his best, he's a useful player.

No one is against a squad, but this is where you'd want Mitchell to have an impact at the club. A lot of people have criticised the club for being poor sellers and in Willock we have an asset we could sell, for hopefully decent money, to then reinvest in new and better players with the aim of building the squad. 

 

When people say the club are bad at selling players, surely it's players like Willock they're referring to? We'll not get much for him after this summer as he'll be in the final year of his contract. 

[nufcjmc]

1 minute ago, The Prophet said:

 

It's all relative though isn't it? Everyone is a sellable asset at the right price. I just wouldn't be actively looking to shift him.

Not disagreeing with you but I think my point is we and the player are at a cross roads 26 is headed to peak age.

He's got 2 years left unless we or the player have an option for an extra year. We could see how it goes and it turns out like longstaff less and less time limited contract and so limited fee. Or we try and cash in now we can't wait forever to capture his electric form of 4 years ago we are a better side and the player has regressed.  If that's limited playing time or injury more strengthens my argument to see what we can get for him.