Joe Willock

[Shearergol]

Willock's had this achilles issue for AGES. Kinda feel it's gonna be one of those injuries that stays with him now.

[NSG]

God I miss this bloke.

[Skeletor]

Just now, NSG said:

God I miss this bloke.

 

I forget he exists sometimes, since he's never available.

[Yorkie]

Him and Murphy are colossal losses to this squad. Barnes and Tonali too. Even Anderson for his physicality. The Pope shout is almost insensitive tonight given the performance of our keeper, but he's obviously an immense miss too. Burn for several weeks too, piling the pressure on Livramento. 

 

It's just impossibly difficult when your squad is having to absorb this sort of impact. You talk about having options - these are the options, above, and they're just not there. Then it's the impact on those left behind; no one is able to play at 100% after the first few weeks of carrying this additional burden. 

 

Still, nO BeTTeR tHaN BRuCe, tHiS.

[Kid Icarus]

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.

[Miercoles]

He'll be back for preseason 

[The Prophet]

Not far off fitness based on his social media.

[wormy]

Awesome. It'll be an honour to watch him pull up 5 minutes into his April return.

[Scoot]

9 minutes ago, wormy said:

Awesome. It'll be an honour to watch him pull up 5 minutes into his April return.

 

That soon?

[Guest reefatoon]

God, we need this lad back.

[Sima]

We’ve missed him more than anyone else imo.

[Jesse Pinkman]

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.

[wormy]

53 minutes ago, Scoot said:

 

That soon?

 

I'm a glass half full kinda guy. 

[timeEd32]

14 minutes ago, Sima said:

We’ve missed him more than anyone else imo.

 

I think I agree. He would have allowed us to find ways to rotate Gordon, Miggy, Joelinton, Longstaff, and Miley. But, even ignoring the secondary effects of his absence, he offers things our other players don't. Even if he had only been available for 20 minute sub appearances we'd probably have a couple more wins/draws than we do.

[Shearergol]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

Not far off fitness based on his social media.

Not what I’ve heard, but we’ll see.

[SteV]

20 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.

Last season he played 35 out the 38 league games.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

25 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.

So motivating. 

[Lush Vlad]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

Not far off fitness based on his social media.

Was just him on an exercise bike wasn’t it? Unless I’ve missed something else. 
 

Not even back running yet is he?

[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.