It's fair to say it's been a bit of a struggle for Joelinton since joining Newcastle in the summer of 2019.

The Brazilian endured a difficult first campaign in English football, managing just four goals in 44 games across all competitions. The start to the new season has been equally as difficult, although in the Premier League, Steve Bruce has opted to permanently station him out wide.

The new role has seen him yet to score in the top-flight, with his only goals coming in the Carabao Cup thrashing of Morecambe, when he bagged a brace.

Against Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday, the 24-year-old never looked like getting into the game, and he looked completely lost in the system.

As per Sofascore, he lost possession an eye-watering 17 times in the 73 minutes that he was on the pitch, whilst he lost 11 of his 15 total duels too.

He also had no attempts on goal whatsoever, and made just ten successful passes - to put that into context, Miguel Almiron, who came on in the 88th minute for Jeff Hendrick, managed exactly half that in the short amount of time that he was on.

With Ryan Fraser and Miguel Almiron amongst Bruce's options for players who can play out wide, it's surely the time for Joelinton to be taken out of the firing line for the time being.

The Newcastle boss' insistence on playing the Brazilian through his bad form and just hoping that he catches fire one day continues to frustrate, and shows a real lack of quality management.

Whilst Joelinton himself can take some of the blame for his anonymous performance, a lot of the responsibility for it comes down to Bruce. Whether it's tweaking his tactics or his side's mentality for games, or simply putting players in the side who are in form - Fraser scored for Scotland in mid week for example - the Magpies boss desperately needs to take action, and fast.