Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe insists that Joelinton cooled down quickly after his number came up against Qarabag.
Taken off after 54 minutes, Joelinton waved his arms in an emotional reaction before pointing at the stadium timer as he looked to get minutes under his belt after a groin injury.
Speaking on Joelinton’s withdrawal, Howe, speaking in his Press conference after a 9-3 win over the team from Azerbaijan, told Chronicle Live: “Yeah, Joey always plays with that passion.
I think that’s what makes him the player that he is, you know, from my side, I’m trying to protect him and make sure we’re able to use him in the next game.
Newcastle eased to victory in the end but Howe admitted: “I thought at 2-0 we probably came off the pedal. We didn’t intend to do that but it was sort of the natural reaction. In the second half the game became end-to-end which, for us, was a real shame.
“For one, we extended too much energy and it meant we didn’t put pressure on their goal, so we’re disappointed with that 45 minutes.”