Saturday was a bad day to be a Newcastle United fan after watching their side humiliated at Brighton the bad news piled on with an update on Joe Willock’s injury.
Shortly after the full time whistle blew at the American Express stadium where Newcastle were humbled by Brighton with a 3-1 defeat, journalist Craig Hope heaped on the misery with a post on X that nobody wanted to see.
Providing an update on the progress of £25million midfielder Joe Willock, Hope revealed that Willock had suffered a setback, posting: “Joe Willock has suffered a setback in recovery from hamstring problem with a new Achilles injury & will be missing for another six weeks”
Joe Willock faces another six weeks on the sidelines
The Geordie faithful were hoping the pacey midfielder was close to a return to bring something new into that midfield that simply isn’t working right now.
Eddie Howe needs to find something new in midfield and the hope amongst fans was that Willock would provide him with the answer, but it now looks like we have to make it through several more fixtures without the former Arsenal star.
Willock was hugely important for Newcastle last season after seemingly finding his calling as a roaming midfielder. The only thing missing from his game, ironically given the form when he was at Newcastle on loan, was goals.
Eddie Howe now needs to find a new way to fix the midfield
The 24-year-old had managed to score some really important goals for Eddie Howe’s side before he picked up the devastating hamstring injury that kept him out of the final two games of the season and the entire pre-season.
I’m still reeling from yesterday’s performance and that light at the end of the tunnel is still a pin-prick so right now, with this Willock update it’s hard to see how we get our groove back.
The answer lies somewhere in Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes in that they need to work on how to play together or one needs to step aside until they can.
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