Newcastle’s forgotten man of pre-season ready to explode under Eddie Howe?

Joe Willock has become the forgotten man of our pre-season. The midfielder picked up a hamstring injury at the end of last season and he has been recovering over the summer. However, he has yet to feature in a pre-season match for Eddie Howe and he will be on the fringes of the first team to start with.

It is a personal disappointment for the midfielder, as he was very important for us last season. Willock was one of the standout performers during our convincing 6-1 win over Tottenham and he was on the fringes of the England squad when he picked up his injury. Several pundits were calling for him to be called up by Gareth Southgate. It has become more difficult to break into the national team setup, but with Euro 2024 on the horizon, it will be a personal objective for our number 28.

This will be Willock’s third full campaign on Tyneside and his development as a player has been huge. When he signed initially on loan, he was a goalscorer. His late runs into the penalty area made him difficult to deal with, but his overall game fell short. Arsenal decided he wasn’t good enough for them for that reason. 

However, he has come on leaps and bounds under Eddie Howe. Willock is now one of the most active defenders in the team, pressing relentlessly as his manager wants him to. Also, the technical side to his game has developed a lot, as shown by his assist for Alexander Isak against Tottenham. The pass itself was a work of art, but the vision to even see it underlined the improvements that the 23-year-old has made mentally. 

Last season, Willock made six assists, which was more than any other player in open play. The underlying numbers were there too. The former Arsenal player averaged 2.99 shot creating actions and 0.21 expected assisted goals (xAG) per ninety minutes. These ranked in the 73rd and 95th percentiles respectively, when compared to other central midfielders. 

Willock’s creativity was one of his biggest areas of improvement in 2022/23, as he averaged just 0.05 xAG per ninety minutes in the previous campaign. The Englishman became a much more effective player in the middle third, as he regularly created shooting opportunities for team-mates. Whereas before his main threat was his late runs into the box, he now carries a dual threat and that makes him more valuable to the team. 

In transition, Willock has become one of our most important players, due to his ball carrying. After the exit of Allan Saint-Maximin, this will take on an even greater importance. The 23-year-old averaged 3.41 progressive carries and 1.3 successful take ons per ninety minutes, ranking in the 96th and 82nd percentiles respectively. 

His running style is unique, as Willock seems to carry the ball at his usual running speed. This allows him to skip past challenges and win free kicks, as the easiest way to stop him is to foul. There is no other midfielder in the current squad that can carry the ball at the speed Willock does.

In terms of goal-scoring, this is the biggest question mark in Willock’s game. During his loan spell, he looked a natural finisher, as he scored eight goals in the second half of the season. Since then, he has five goals in two full campaigns. However, he is still carrying a huge threat and it seems inevitable that the goals will start to flow for him.

An average of 0.25 non-penalty expected goals (npxG) ranks him in the 98th percentile among midfielders. Willock is also great at moving between the lines into dangerous positions, as underlined by his 5.35 progressive passes received per ninety minutes. He also showed a relentless drive to get into these positions, despite a lack of goals. This is an impressive mentality to continue putting himself in the position to fail. 

A return of three goals from 7 xG is underwhelming and shows an underperformance of four goals. Willock has shown an impressive finishing streak before and if he can recapture that part of his game, he will be an incredibly dangerous midfield player.

Willock turns 24 this month, but there is still so much room for development in his game. There is potential for him to develop into a player that can contribute double digits for goals and assists in a single league season.

The arrival of Sandro Tonali has added more competition for midfield places, but Willock will still get plenty of starts in this team. He is unique in what he offers in the attacking third, while his relentless pressing makes him an asset off the ball too.

The development that he has made under Eddie Howe to date is impressive. There is still a lot more room for further improvement and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him take another big step forward in 2023/24. He has been a forgotten man in pre-season, but Joe Willock is going to be an important player once he has fully healed from injury.

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