Every 10 days or so for the last three years, Newcastle United midfielder Joelinton has dialled into a 45-minute Zoom call with his own personal, dedicated video analyst.
These sessions are typical of a player with an extraordinary thirst for self-improvement. Joelinton also employs a fitness coach and dietician but it is in these mini seminars that he has masterminded a transformation from derided £40m striker to one of the most effective midfield anchors in the Premier League.
The next step – as outlined to i by those working with him in these study sessions – is to add more attacking edge to his game to cement his place in Brazil’s squad for the next World Cup and help bring – in the player’s own words – “titles and trophies” to St James’ Park.
“Joelinton can get better and better, I have no doubt about that,” Diego Viera, the CEO of Outlier FC, the Brazilian company that employs 10 analysts and runs the sessions, tells i.
“In terms of how he reads the game and his game management Joelinton is one of the best I’ve ever worked with. He is a beast and nothing should surprise you about him but what is also so impressive is that he also doesn’t run away from his mistakes.
“If something has happened in a game and I say ‘What has happened here?’ he will own it if it’s something that hasn’t gone quite right. I think that’s why you see such an improvement in him over the last few years.
“I always say he is a great player and an even better person so it’s so easy to work with him because of the amount of work he puts in and the dedication he has for his craft.”
A case in point: when Joelinton spent three months on the sidelines last season the frequency of the calls dropped a bit but the intensity did not.
Alongside a gym programme to rehabilitate a serious hamstring injury, the video sessions were a part of what his entourage dubbed a plan to “build him back better”.
During video calls he ran through tape of how the team were playing in his absence, picking up on trends and planning adjustments to his own game to help Newcastle improve when he returned.
Pulling up Joelinton’s individual report on the computer screen in front of him, Viera notes that last year there were 22 sessions dedicated to helping him make more line-breaking passes in games.
“Every time he gets the ball, he want the ability to perform a pass that leaves opponents behind and helping Newcastle progress,” Viera says.
And the key to that is movement – the short runs, made in fractions of a second that he believes will become instinct if he runs through them enough.
Another 22 sessions were devoted to “providing a passing option”, or finding space to receive the ball when his teammates are in the attacking third.
“People might not notice it but his movements without the ball are so good,” Viera says.
“If you think about that movement, because he is such a big, tall, strong guy he’s got to understand where he’s going. To do that he has to look around. Then he has to make the action, change the rhythm, do the action at a certain pace so he’s at an advantageous point in the pitch. But to where?
“We work with him on the ability to perceive where is the best spot to be on in the pitch. It’s something he has really developed and is getting so good with. It’s part of his game that has a big impact on a match.
“Other things like his first touch, his control, orienting to control. Because he’s big, if he’s already active when he receives the ball his first touch is more fluid.
“It flows better and then his next action is already better than if he’s not active. In the Premier League it changes a scenario in seconds, which is what Joelinton is capable of doing.”
Working under Eddie Howe, a manager who trusts him implicitly and was a key driver of the new long-term contract he signed in April, this season there is a real hope that this Joelinton version 2.0 can help propel the club back into Champions League contention.
For while supporters understandably clamour for upgrades on a squad that fell just short of European qualification, it is the opinion of those inside the hierarchy that recruitment needs to be exacting rather than extensive. Two or three high quality signings are being targeted rather than a raft of incomings.
The reason? Players like Joelinton – who missed 16 games in the second half of the season – will once again be available to the manager.
“When the overall level is high, you have to be careful not to just recruit for the sake of it,” one source said recently.
Joelinton is one of the examples they cite, the Newcastle midfield anchor who was sorely missed during his three month absence. If you want to free Bruno Guimaraes to do his best work, for example, having his Brazil teammate next to him certainly helps.
And he looked in terrific nick at the club’s summer training camp in Bavaria last week, fresh from a summer beach wedding to long-term girlfriend Thays Gondim at which close friend Guimaraes sung during the reception.
“My summer was one of the best, getting married, it was a great time for me, my wife,” he beams.
The new contract gives him clarity, eliminating any uncertainty about his future.
“I always said I wanted to stay at the club. I love the club, the city, my family is happy at Newcastle and I enjoy my life there,” he says.
“Things are going well on the football pitch so why not stay? I’m happy to continue my journey here.”
That journey, he hopes, will include leading Newcastle back into the Champions League next season.
“We have great expectations, high expectations,” he says.
“We have big goals and we want to be better. We want to compete with the best and I want to be back in a final again. We want to be a competitive team. That’s what you want, that’s what you work for.”
To do that it feels like Newcastle will need to quell some of the noise around head coach Howe, who is hugely popular inside the dressing room but also wanted by England to succeed Gareth Southgate.
“He’s done a lot for me since day one. He’s a great coach,” Joelinton says.
“He’s a great man, I love him. I have a lot of respect for him and he changed my career. He and his staff changed things, they gave a new mentality and helped my football. They’ve definitely changed my career and I will be grateful for ever.
“We love him here, we want him to stay here. Hopefully he will stay for many years. He’s a great coach and I know he can take us to the next level.”
So, too, will keeping their best talent. And on that front Joelinton is convinced Guimaraes retains a desire to stay at Newcastle, despite regular summer links with Arsenal and Manchester City.
“I think he’s going to stay. He tells me he’s going to come back [this] week and get ready for the season,” he says. The £100m release clause in Guimaraes’s contract expired in June.
“I hope he stays. I know him, he loves the club as well. He loves the fans, he enjoys his life in Newcastle. I think he’s glad to be there for his life as well as football.
“Newcastle and the club want him to be happy and stay for many years.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/sKEJIug
Post a Comment