OPINION
Former Newcastle United captain Mick Martin gave his verdict on the club’s misfiring front-three and in the process was too harsh on Joelinton.
The ex-Magpies midfielder delivered a five-word verdict on the Brazilian forward by claiming he needed to start doing more.
“Joelinton needs to start doing more,” Martin told Chronicle Live.
While Joelinton clearly needs to be among the goals more for the Magpies to have a successful season, to say he generally needs to do more, underestimates what he brings to the team.
The Magpies attacker has won 4.8 aerial duels per game, as per WhoScored, in order to hold the ball up when leading the line as well as generally help his side retain possession, and given that he doesn’t have the same speed as say fictional DC Superhero the Flash, he can’t exactly knock the ball on for himself to quickly run onto as well as be in the correct position to win it in the air.
It’s also very telling that former Premier League forward Dean Ashton, he appeared 62 times in the top-flight, went on Sky Sports News (11:50am, Thursday, 24th) to declare he felt sorry for the forward and plead with the 23-year-old’s teammates to help him out more.
Ashton knows what a hard job a striker has in the Premier League and if he is baffled by the impossible task Joelinton faces to get goals due to a lack of service, surely that means the attacker shouldn’t be criticised or told to do more.
The 23-year-old has also only managed to have 11 shots on goal in general, as per BBC Sport, which does suggest his teammates aren’t doing enough to carve out enough chances for him.
Although it is fair to say he could have at least one more goal if he was more accurate with his shooting as only 27% of his shots have hit the target. (Source: BBC)
However, it’s worth noting that it is a little bit unfair to single Joelinton out even when you just focus on his goal tally because technically he is the club’s joint leading goalscorer with one goal.
Also while Joelinton hasn’t been scoring the goals, it doesn’t mean he hasn’t been busy.
In fact, the 22-year-old attacker has averaged 1.1 clearances as well as 0.8 tackles per match across nine league outings, which shows he’s pulling his weight and suggest he is having to drop deep to get involved with the game. (Source: WhoScored)
It’s not like Joelinton has been twiddling his thumbs while struggling to get chances created for him, so with that mind, Martin is wrong to claim the Brazilian needs to start doing more as he’s clearly doing all he can and it’s up to his teammates to help him out.
