Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has claimed that Newcastle United attacker Joelinton would fare much better if he played for Burnley.
The former Arsenal man was speaking yesterday on Gillette Soccer Saturday as he previewed the Magpies’ clash with the Clarets that kicks off at lunchtime today.
Steve Bruce’s side have the chance to increase the gap over Fulham, after the Cottagers were beaten by Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday.
One man who will hope for another good performance at Turf Moor is Joelinton, who opened the scoring and played well against Tottenham Hotspur.
Performances like that from him have sadly been few and far between, but Merson reckons things would be different if he played for today’s opposition.
In a discussion about Chris Wood’s effectiveness for Burnley and how he wouldn’t necessarily do the business for Newcastle, he said (Shields Gazette): “If Joelinton was at Burnley, he would score goals.
“They would play to his strengths. If you’re a big centre-forward at Burnley, you will score goals. They work on percentages.”
He probably would
It is perhaps easy to say that Joelinton would score goals in Burnley’s system.
But Merson probably has a point here.
Burnley are a well-drilled side and Wood, like Joelinton, is a big forward that has scored goals for the Clarets.
Burnley also have a great manager who knows how to play to players’ strengths – there’s every chance, hypothetically speaking, that Dyche would be able to get Joelinton firing.
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