Newcastle United opened their Premier League campaign up with a disappointing defeat at St James’ Park.
Newcastle fans got their first glimpse of club-record signing Joelinton playing in a competitive game for the Magpies on Sunday as Steve Bruce’s men opened their Premier League campaign with a spirited performance against Arsenal at St James’ Park.
It was always going to be a tough task for the Magpies, with the Gunners widely lauded for the business that they did during the summer transfer window.
Newcastle actually had more attempts on goal than Unai Emery’s side, but the home side could not beat Bernd Leno in the Arsenal goal. And they were punished when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang broke the deadlock with the game’s only goal just before the hour mark.
There were some encouraging signs for Newcastle in attack with the Toon Army getting to see a front three of Allan Saint-Maximin, Miguel Almiron and Joelinton for just over 20 minutes. But the general feeling appears to be that the team did not do enough to get the striker into the game.
Joelinton looked bright and will be disappointed that he did not take a couple of chances that came his way. But some of his touches and pieces of skill provided big hints as to why the Magpies did decide to pay £40 million for him during the summer (fee reported by BBC Sport).
Unsurprisingly, plenty of fans are excited about how good Joelinton could become once he is up to speed on Tyneside. Others remain unconvinced, but the large majority of supporters on Twitter appear to be excited about his potential.
Here is what some of the fans made of his performance…
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