Many Newcastle United fans have been reacting to a tweet that was recently posted by Toon news Twitter account @ChronicleNUFC which relayed former Premier League centre-forward Noel Whelan’s comments on Joelinton’s performance for the Toon versus Leeds United in midweek.
This comes after Whelan recently spoke to Football Insider and declared that he felt Joelinton’s performance versus Leeds was “absolutely shocking”, called him “very one-dimensional” and questioned the transfer fee that Newcastle paid to sign him in the summer of 2019.
The former Leeds striker also labelled the Toon forward ‘a poor Jay-Roy Grot’, in relation to the Leeds forward who has just one goal in 22 appearances since arriving in 2017.
So, how did these Newcastle United fans react to Whelan’s comments on Joelinton?
Pundit brands Joelinton 'absolutely shocking' after #NUFC's defeat at Elland Road https://t.co/5oSuBVbX8S pic.twitter.com/vVhHngdUVM
— The Chronicle (@ChronicleNUFC) December 18, 2020
A lot of the Newcastle supporters who replied to @ChronicleNUFC’s tweet disputed Whelan’s comments on Joelinton, which may be understandable when you consider that no Toon player won more aerial duels (four) versus Leeds, while only two other starting players (Jeff Hendrick and Ciaran Clark) had a higher pass success rate (84.2%) than the Brazilian (76.7%), as per WhoScored.
Let’s all blame joelinton hmmmm no blame Bruce Ashley and charnley 100% and all these journalist need to get a grip
— sarah emmerson???? (@sarahemmerson5) December 18, 2020
New scapegoat????
— Sam Smith (@SamSmit04952115) December 19, 2020
In a shocking team performance I thought he was one of our better players personally ????
— les (@Les_1981) December 19, 2020
Joelinton has been one of our unsung heros he’s like our firminho he dont get the goals but its all about his workrate and hold up play under a better coach he would show his worth
— philip hill (@philiphill1982) December 18, 2020
Guessing he didnt watch the game then
— Jack ?? (@jchaytor16) December 18, 2020
Joe has been one of our best players this season but pundits will never say that and the agenda will continue
— Gbaz (@gbaznufc) December 18, 2020
Do you agree with Whelan's comments on Joelinton?
YES
NO
Some people seem to be very quick to point the finger at Joelinton but forget that most of our players are shocking because we play a horrible style of football. I don’t think you can single a player out for that.
— Sav Mondo (@SavMondo) December 18, 2020
If anyone should be blasted it should be longstaff
— Kieren Wilkinson (@KierenW6) December 18, 2020
It’s clear from these replies to this post that plenty of Newcastle supporters appreciated Joelinton’s performance versus Leeds despite the adverse result for the Magpies.