In 2015, Hoffenheim bought Joelinton to replace Roberto Firmino — who left for Liverpool. His early career with Hoffenheim did not go smoothly, he only played once as a substitute in his first season and had to be loaned out to Rapid Wien for two seasons. There, he spent his time as a center-forward by recording 30 G/A from 79 matches.
His performances in the capital city of Austria led to him being called back to Hoffenheim for the 2018/2019 season, which was then being coached by Julian Nagelsmann — the manager who was able to bring Die Kraichgauer to the Champions League zone back-to-back. Under Nagelsmann, Joelinton was finally able to play consistently at Hoffenheim and managed to score 20 G/A from 36 matches.
His impressive performance attracted the attention of other clubs, one of them was Newcastle who were willing to pay a club record fee of £40 million at the start of the 2019/2020 season to replace Salomon Rondon. His departure from Hoffenheim coincided with Nagelsmann who also moved to Red Bull Leipzig to start a new chapter.
Just like at the beginning of his career with Hoffenheim, the former ‘Newcastle Number Nine’ also struggled in the first few seasons. He only recorded 19 G/A from 89 matches in 2,5 seasons with Steve Bruce. In his interview with The Telegraph, Joelinton had thought about leaving the Tyneside-based club.
But the arrival of Eddie Howe in the middle of the 2021/2022 season, changed his desire to leave.
Under Julian Nagelsmann and Steve Bruce
Even though he spent a lot of his career playing as a center-forward, he rarely played as a lone striker. With Nagelsmann, Joelinton excels as a two-man striker with Kramaric/Belfodil. Joelinton is the type of striker who often drops to the midfield to link up and open up space for other players. He is also a very good presser, which then draws comparisons to former Hoffenheim’s Brazilian forward— Roberto Firmino.
However, when he was with Steve Bruce’s Newcastle, Joelinton’s strengths were not utilized. Newcastle mostly defended with 5–4–1 mid/low blocks and rarely high pressed. When attacking, he didn’t get enough support. Joelinton was arguably the ‘servant’ at Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim — the one who help others to score goals, but he struggled to make an impact at Steve Bruce’s Newcastle due to being isolated.
Steve Bruce admitted that Joelinton was not a natural goalscorer.
“The great strikers, the goalscorers, all they’re interested in is scoring a goal — Joe is not like that.”
“He certainly hasn’t got that mentality, He is more a team player. He has to be a bit more selfish. He doesn’t get himself in the positions enough, that is something we’re working on.” — Steve Bruce
Steve Bruce also said that he wanted to try Joelinton playing in a wide position. But the bad results that continued to happen, left Newcastle stranded in the relegation zone, and eventually Steve Bruce was replaced by Eddie Howe.
With the managerial change, Eddie Howe tried Joelinton as the center-forward a couple of times, before finally converting him into a box-to-box midfielder. According to him, Joelinton has the ability to play in a number of areas, and wouldn’t label him.
"He's got a really selfless mindset so I've been really pleased with him. I think he can continue to improve and he's going to be a huge player for us. On Tuesday he started as a 10, then moved to a midfield position. He can play in a number of areas and I wouldn't label him." — Eddie Howe
Eddie Howe also uses a high-intensity pressing —the opposite of Steve Bruce’s method which is more comfortable sitting deep, something that Joelinton also excels.
Therefore, I analyze what is Joelinton’s role and why he became an important player for Eddie Howe’s Newcastle.
Build-up as Left Central Midfielder and Left Winger Hybrid
Newcastle builds up with a 4–3–3 shape, the fullback is positioned high to level with the defensive midfielder (Bruno Guimaraes). When Joelinton plays as the left central midfielder, he will fill the left halfspace, and if he plays as a left winger, he will hold the width. However, with the positional rotation that occurs between the left central midfielder and left winger, it makes him operate a lot at both left halfspace and left flank. In the 4–3–3 shape, the positioning of the fullback-central midfielder-winger in the side is close together and forms a wide triangle to facilitate progression.
The left central midfielder is the position with the least first phase of build-up responsibility among Newcastle’s midfield three, because of that Joelinton is usually in a more advanced position than Longstaff (RCM) and Bruno (DM). In this more advanced position (LW/LCM hybrid), Joelinton always tried to find space to receive so that he can help Newcastle to progress the ball.
Joelinton often makes off-the-ball movements/runs, this allows him to offer passing options and also open passing lanes for other players (ex: Saint-Maximin). He makes it easier for Newcastle players to combine and dismantle the opponent’s defensive block.
This movement can also open up space for other players (ex: Isak) to cut inside and get a shooting space.
Right Central Midfielder and Defensive Midfielder
With the help of Eddie Howe, Joelinton can be more versatile and can play in deeper positions. In his time with Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim, Joelinton often dropped to midfield to help the build-up, but he never occupied the central midfield and defensive midfield positions at all. (From Transfermarkt).
Unlike the hybrid LW/LCM position, there is more first phase of build-up responsibility for the defensive midfielder and right central midfielder, as I said before. Eddie Howe had tried him as the defensive midfielder or right central midfielder in several matches. Interestingly, he can play in that position quite well.
Joelinton has a fairly large and mobile body so he can protect the ball and receive in the 1st phase under pressure quite well. See how he scans to give all the information he needs, before receiving. Because he is mobile, he can use his body feint to escape pressure.
As a defensive midfielder, he has good positioning and tries to always stay available. He is quite secure in the build-up with a good pass selection so that Newcastle can comfortably circulate. He’s technically quite good.
"We really, really like him and I think he's got a good mix of physicality and technical ability. You saw some superb footwork to get out of some difficult areas. His work rate has been a real feature and he's given everything for the team." — Eddie Howe
The Athletic’s graphic chart shows that Joelinton is indeed quite comfortable in possession even when pressed by the opponents.
In the right central midfielder position, Joelinton drops deep to form the double pivot with Bruno and help the build-up. He also drops to the right flank/halfspace to push Tripper up. It's different when he plays as an LW/LCM hybrid where Burn rarely advances, so he can operates in a more advanced position.
Joelinton’s weakness is how he sometimes can give overhit passes, thus ruining Newcastle’s momentum to attack.
Although, Joelinton still rarely played as the right central midfielder or defensive midfielder. With time and coaching, he can be better and more complete.
Left-Side Dynamics with Joe Willock
When Joelinton and Willock play together on the left flank, the dynamic between them is better than when Joelinton plays with Allan Saint-Maximin/Gordon. Although Willock and Joelinton are not 'proper’ wingers, both can play as a left central midfielder and left winger quite comfortably, so the positional rotation is more fluid and can create a dilemma for the opponent to defend.
Joelinton can hold the width but he’s more comfortable coming inside from the flank. With Willock, this positional rotation allows Joelinton to come inside and attack the box more often. Both of them have a good understanding and connection with each other.
Box-To-Box
When playing as an LW/LCM hybrid or right central midfielder, there will be times when Joelinton often attacks the box to get closer to the goal. We can see how he understood space occupation. He sees the space in the halfspace area and occupies that space, then he underlaps to support Tripper and attack the box.
He is quite good at positioning himself in an open position to receive the pass. As a box-to-box midfielder, he would often make late runs to the edge of the box and be in a position to receive a cut-back.
There is a specific way how Joelinton got opportunities to score. He often scores goals by doing the off-the-ball runs to arrive in the space. He did quite in well in timing his runs to exploit the space behind the opponent’s backline. The examples are against West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur where he did the curved runs to exploit space due to the opponent’s high defensive line, by taking advantage of Fabian Schar’s diagonal pass ability.
Joelinton likes to drive at the opponent’s defender, by using his ball-carrying ability.
Despite that, Joelinton has a box presence that Newcastle can also utilize. Moreover, the 6 ft 1 Brazilian often played as a center forward (CF) in the past, so it’s not new for him.
When playing as a defensive midfielder (DM), he stays more central by moving minimally to open passing options while at the same time positioning himself on the rest defense to counter press if the opponent counterattacks.
Based on the @TheDevilsDNA chart, Joelinton is included in the “heartbeat of their team” category, players who are comfortable to receive in deeper and attacking areas (all-phase players).
This shows how versatile and important is Joelinton for Newcastle.
Defensive Machine
Even though Joelinton can play as a defensive midfielder (DM) and right central midfielder (RCM) quite well, I think his out-of-possession ability is one of the reasons why Eddie Howe prefers him to fill the LW/LCM hybrid position.
Julian Nagelsmann and Eddie Howe have both agreed that Joelinton is a machine that is hard to stop and is willing to ‘die’ for his team.
“The bloke is an animal. He’s a machine. It’s hard to stop him.” — Julian Nagelsmann
“Joelinton is a machine. He’ll literally run through the brick wall for the team and the club.”
Because of that, they both took advantage of Joelinton’s work rate, energy, stamina, and tenacity to help the team. Joelinton is a destroyer who can cover big areas. We can see how often Eddie Howe uses Joelinton to press, win duels, and track back to the backline.
According to The Analyst, Newcastle is the team with the second lowest passes per defensive action (PPDA) in the Premier League after Chelsea.
(The lower the PPDA indicates the higher the pressing level. The lower = the better)
When pressing, Joelinton is assigned to cover big areas while other Newcastle players are assigned to guard certain players, but Joelinton is positioned between 2–3 players like this.
Therefore, Joelinton must assess the situation well and judge when to step up, and when to hold his position.
Newcastle will usually do the angled press so that the opponent is directed to one side, and later Newcastle will do a pressing trap to prevent them from progressing the ball.
Even so, Newcastle can also do a pressing trap in the middle. For example here, Newcastle has numerical superiority against Arsenal’s double pivot so they create a pressing trap and immediately counter.
One thing with Joelinton is that he can be rash and make cheap fouls which can stop the opponent’s momentum but also give the opponent to ‘breathe’. So, I think he needs to manage this problem by assessing and judging the right time to make a foul.
When Newcastle forms into a defensive block, Joelinton tries to keep the shape compact. He always scans to see the opponent’s position. He moves to follow the direction of the ball and gets closer to the closest opponent (ex: Caicedo) while closing passing options in the space between the lines (Gross).
When Joelinton played in midfield, he is assigned to protect the central area while closing the gaps in between the backline.
Joelinton is quite well at reading the game even when he is playing in a deeper position (DM), he can assess when to step up and when to stay in his position.
He also still has a defensive responsibility when played as the left winger, he was tasked to track back to do a double up (2v1), usually against the opponent’s winger. Because of that, it became increasingly difficult for opponents to penetrate the Newcastle defense.
Joelinton’s intensity from the first to the last minute of the match was quite maintained, he always looked like he still had a lot of energy to keep running.
With his contribution, Newcastle finish the Premier League 2022/2023 season with the best defensive record — only 33 goals conceded from 38 matches.
The arrival of Eddie Howe to Newcastle is a breath of fresh air, not only for the Newcastle supporters but also for Joelinton. He was even chosen to be Newcastle’s 2021/2022 Player of the Season. His performance this season was able to lead Newcastle back to the UEFA Champions League after the last time they played in Europe’s most prestigious competition was in the 2002/2003 season. He also finally earned his first ever call-up for the Brazilian national team, at age 26.
Recently, Eddie Howe has been experimenting with players like Isak and Gordon to fill the left winger and left central midfielder — positions that Joelinton usually fills. It will be interesting to see, whether Eddie Howe will make tactical tweaks that can affect Joelinton. Even so, it seems that Joelinton’s role will still be needed by Eddie Howe for the next season, especially since Joelinton is a versatile player and is rarely injured.
This difficult career journey has made Joelinton the player he is today, a hard-working player who never gives up until the end.
“Some days things don’t happen but today I tried to work and I hope to continue this and do good work and hope we can win the game and improve this situation.” — Joelinton
This is great, you perfectly covered all aspects of Joelintons game and how his physical and technical attributes allowed Howe to let his flourish in midfield. Just fantastic