Joelinton did something no PL player has done in 13 years vs Brighton last night

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Newcastle United’s midfield beast Joelinton did something against Brighton last night that hasn’t been done since 2010.

One thing that has been apparent this season is that Joelinton is not adverse to the odd hard tackle. His 12 yellow cards in the Premier League this season are testament to that fact.

In fact, if the Brazilian picks up a booking in each of the remaining games he will be tied at the top of the list of most cautions in a Premier League season. Not really a record the Newcastle man will likely be proud to carry.

Joelinton has picked up 12 yellow cards this season

Last night saw the Brazilian playing with the red mist. At one point I feared for Moises Caicedo‘s life after the Ecuadorian felled Joelinton with what looked like an elbow to the chest. Big J7 wasn’t about to let it go and stalked Caicedo around the penalty area as Trippier lined up his set-piece. Even the Sky Sports commentators were worried for Caicedo.

We’ve seen Joelinton lose his head before so it was nothing new, but what was surprising was how much he got away with last night.

In fact, the £40million ex-Hoffenheim man became the first person since 2010 to rack up eight fouls in a game and not be booked. A feat not achieved since Alessandro Diamanti for West Ham against Blackburn.

Again, probably not his proudest stat, but certainly an interesting one.

Newcastle need an enforcer like Joelinton to make the big challenges

Newcastle fans may call for Joelinton to calm himself down as he picks up too many cards, but I honestly wouldn’t change a thing. We need an enforcer, someone willing to do the dirty stuff, and it he can do that. It seems that he’s getting good at getting away with it too.

I said yesterday that Joelinton would be my man to play the Sean Longstaff role given the Newcastle’ academy graduate’s absence, and that’s how it played out with Jo marshalling the midfield and turning defence into attack.

It was another excellent performance in a catalogue of excellent performances this season. He’s truly become world-class under Eddie Howe and surely he’s done enough to earn that call up to the Brazilin national team now.