Newcastle star Joelinton. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Eddie Howe has slammed Joelinton for his stupidity in being booked in Newcastle’s 4-0 win over Leicester City on Saturday.
The Brazilian was objectively excellent against the Foxes, completing 93% of his passes and creating two chances, including a great chance, while attempting three shots and making two clearances.
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However, Joelinton was booked in the 71st minute for a late tackle on James Justin.
with the claws Already 4-0 up, it was a challenge Joelinton didn’t have to make and it will now be quite costly as the 28-year-old will miss Newcastle’s trip to Ipswich Town next Saturday.
Newcastle boss Howe will be even more perplexed and frustrated by his midfielder as he warned him against a booking just minutes before Joelinton foolishly faced a challenge.
“It’s strange how things work. I’m talking to him from the side, he’s right in front of me and I say ‘Joey, don’t book’, and he says ‘don’t worry, I won’t’. Two minutes later he’s booked . You just couldn’t make up for it,” Howe told reporters after the blowout win (via The Chronicle).
He added: “In some ways, sometimes these things happen. I’m disappointed to lose him because he’s a player we need in every away game, but at least now he can play free and play his normal game.”
Joelinton is out for a game, Nick Pope for a month
Saturday’s win ends a four-match winless run for Newcastle and sees them move up to 11th in the table, just four points behind Manchester City in fifth and five out of the Champions League.
But the Magpies face a challenging festive schedule which starts with an EFL Cup clash with Brentford on Wednesday and also includes games against the likes of Aston Villa, Man Utd and Tottenham.
Although Joelinton is only suspended for one league game, Newcastle will be without goalkeeper Nick Pope, who was replaced by Martin Dubravka through injury on Saturday.
“He saw the specialist and the comment is that he will be around a month, so bad timing for us and for Nick because there are a lot of games in that four-week period. Hopefully after these four weeks he will be in good enough condition to play,” Howe said of Pope.
“He got injured just passing the ball against Brentford. It looked really harmless, it was a left-footed pass, but the knee didn’t feel particularly good afterwards, so that’s the plan.”
