Tony Cascarino raved about Newcastle United attacker Joelinton after his performance in the 1-0 win over Tottenham.
The pundit claimed that centre-forwards have to be the full package these days and highlighted that he thought the Magpies player was excellent against Spurs not just because of his goal, but because he worked tirelessly throughout the game.
“I thought Joelinton was excellent for Newcastle — not only did he take his goal really well but he worked tirelessly,” wrote Cascarino in his column for the Times.
“These guys have to be the full package — thank God I’m not playing today!”
Joelinton scored the first goal of his Magpies career against Spurs on Sunday after he fired the ball home after Christian Atsu dinked the ball to him.
OPINION
Cascarino is spot on to heap praise on Joelinton for not just scoring against Spurs, but for his all-round performance. While several members of Steve Bruce’s side worked hard to grind out a surprise victory against last season’s Champions League runners-up, it was hard not to notice the Brazilian putting in a shift. The 23-year-old touched the ball 38 times on Sunday, Matt Ritchie and Miguel Almiron were the only Newcastle players to touch the ball more, and that showed how he put himself about the pitch in order to ensure his side were successful (Source: WhoScored). Joelinton was also more clinical in front of goal than he was against the loss to Norwich last weekend. The 23-year-old fired two shots at Spurs’ goal, with both hitting the target, whereas against Norwich he had enough space to fire a shot at goal on two occasions but both his efforts failed to work the goalkeeper (Source: WhoScored).
