Joelinton in action against Brightonplaceholder image
Joelinton in action against Brighton | Getty Images
Brighton 2-1 Newcastle United: Joelinton and Anthony Elanga were both withdrawn at half-time by Eddie Howe at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
Eddie Howe named an unchanged Newcastle United side for the third successive game as his team were beaten 2-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Danny Welbeck scored twice as Nick Woltemade found the net for the fifth time in six starts for The Magpies. The German’s stunning back-heeled finish proved to be a consolation in the end as Newcastle suffered a third league defeat of the season.
After a two-week international break, Howe opted to name a Newcastle line-up including seven players who had been on international duty and not properly trained with the first-team squad in preparation for the trip to Brighton.
The midfield three, forward three and defender Dan Burn were all away on international duty. Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes, in particular, had flown to the Far East with Brazil for matches against South Korea and Japan.
The pair also experienced a disrupted journey after their flight over to South Korea was forced to turn around due to a plane window malfunction.
While both players started the match at Brighton after a busy international break, Joelinton was withdrawn at half-time. Anthony Elanga was also withdrawn at the break as Howe replaced the £95million duo with Lewis Miley and Jacob Murphy for the second half.
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Eddie Howe explains the initial NUFC team selection
It had been reported Joelinton had picked up a groin issue while on international duty with Brazil but returned to Tyneside and trained ahead of the trip to Brighton.
Alongside Joelinton and Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali also started in midfield despite taking a knock on international duty with Italy and only returning to Newcastle on Friday morning ahead of the Saturday match.
Explaining his selection decisions, Howe said: “Lewy Miley hadn't trained for two weeks and Jacob Ramsey's just back from a long layoff himself, so they're difficult players to bring in themselves because they're arguably not 100 per cent match fit either.
“We made the decision to go with the two lads [Guimaraes and Joelinton] that had done the travelling. Bruno had a much better second half than he did first, so maybe that's not just pure fatigue.
“But we were much better with the changes in the second half. It was a much brighter performance and much more like ourselves.”
Joelinton and Anthony Elanga withdrawal
Joelinton and Elanga had struggled in the first half prior to their withdrawals. Despite both being away on international duty ahead of the trip and Joelinton in particular a fitness concern, Howe claimed the substitutions were not injury related.
“It was tactical,” he said. “I wasn't happy with the first half and I think it was a time for us to try and shake the team up, to try and get new energy onto the pitch.
“Different players with different qualities and I thought the team benefited from it. I thought all the substitutes impacted the game pretty well. I was very pleased with the control that [Miley] brought us, his technical work is excellent, he's outstanding in that area and I thought he brought a composure that our midfield lacked in that first half.”
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