Joelinton's reinvention under Howe key in Newcastle's survival bid

When Eddie Howe took over the Newcastle reins in early November, he was forced to work with a squad clearly not equipped to beat the drop. Yes, they strengthened in January, but in the opening weeks of Howe's time at St. James' Park, he had to contend with the tools at his disposal. 

An area that needed reinforcing last month was central midfield, and Newcastle bolstered their options with the high-profile arrival of Bruno Guimaraes, yet it's another Brazilian who has played a key role in turning the club's fortunes around. Joelinton had never started a league game in central midfield before December, only for Howe to use the the former Hoffenheim man in the middle of the park from the outset in Newcastle's eventual 3-1 loss to Liverpool. 

In total now, Joelinton has started six league games in central midfield for Newcastle this season, and he's featured 11 times from the get-go since Howe took charge. In that time, only January arrival Kieran Trippier (7.88) and Allan Saint-Maximin (7.27) have earned a better WhoScored rating than Joelinton (7.13) of all Newcastle players, a rating rise of 0.68 under Steve Bruce this season. What's all the more impressive is that the 25-year-old has done so while reinventing himself from a goalshy striker, to a hardworking winger, and now to a box-to-box ball winning machine. 

The main takeaway of Joelinton's performance against Everton on Tuesday night was that shot he took that inexplicably hit him in the head, but off the ball, he was superb. Indeed, he made seven tackles against the Toffees, his joint-best in a Newcastle game, matching the seven he made against Watford last month, again when starting in central midfield, both of which were the joint fourth-most by a Newcastle player in a Premier League outing in 2021/22. 

Since Howe took charge at the beginning of November, Joelinton has made more tackles (39) than Jacob Murphy (18) and Javier Manquillo (16), the duo ranking second and third for the metric, have managed combined (34). 33.9% of the total tackles Joelinton has made in the Premier League have come in 11 games under Howe. In that period he has made more tackles than he managed in the 2019/20 (34) and 2020/21 Premier League seasons (33). 

Yes, Newcastle made some solid squad additions last month, with Trippier, Chris Wood, Dan Burn and Matt Targett injecting the Premier League experience and Guimaraes the headline capture, but perhaps the biggest win for the Magpies under Howe to date has been to bring out the best in Joelinton. Tragically misused by Bruce, Howe has put Joelinton's limitless energy to exceptional use and Newcastle are evidently all the better for it. 

Crucial for Howe now is that he has two battling midfielders in his Brazilian pair to work the space for Jonjo Shelvey to maximise his range of passing to help spread the play to the wings. A pass success rate of 79.7% may not be worth shouting home about, but is the best of all Newcastle players under Howe and with Joelinton and Guimaraes working hard off the ball to disrupt the rhythm of opponents, this allows Shelvey to pick out a teammate. 

Previously a punchline to so many jokes, with many pointing to a lack of direction the club was heading in when they spent £40m on a forward who had scored just seven league goals in the season prior to his move to St. James' Park, Joelinton is now one of the first names on the team sheet under Howe and for good reason. Crucially is that the addition of Wood in January eases the pressure on Joelinton to hit the back of the net with great regularity. 

Prior to January, Callum Wilson was Newcastle's main source of goals, yet when sidelined, the Magpies understandably struggled in the final third. Joelinton was at times tasked with leading the charge, a role that, in truth, didn't suit his tenacious approach. Since moving to England, he has just seven league goals to his name, with six of those coming in the 46 league games he has started up front. 

Now, though, he can play with greater freedom, which has resulted in a tougher Newcastle side to break down and allowed Joelinton to operate without the same pressure. The reinvention of the Brazilian will undoubtedly go down as one of the club's success stories under Howe as they now look to pull away from danger and consolidate their Premier League spot.