Yoane Wissa scored again for DR Congo tonight to take his AFCON qualification tally to three goals in three games, building on his excellent international form at the World Cup this past summer.
Although his continued goal scoring for his country is great to see, for Newcastle United his inability to do the same at club level is further compounded every single time he pulls out his trademark Fimbu celebration.
As a result, the question of how Matthias Jaissle and the Magpies can get the best out of Yoane Wissa and capture some of that form we see every time he pulls on his country’s kit is becoming a big one.
So what steps can be taken to solve it?
Find a proper focal point
Yoane Wissa’s role for Newcastle United should, in theory, get a lot of the same output from him as his usual role under Sebastien Desabre does, because he is actually being asked to do very similar things.
The reason it doesn’t is that the Magpies don’t have the sort of profile in front of him that allows him to thrive.
DR Congo have the likes of Cedric Bakambu who often plays ahead of Wissa as a centre-forward, leaving the Newcastle man to play almost as a second striker, similarly to what Jaissle wants from his number 10.
But Bakambu is a focal point. He holds the ball up, bullies defenders, links the play and, most importantly, creates the sort of scenarios Wissa thrives in - running off the shoulder, getting into the box and finishing instinctively.
At Newcastle, Wissa has either Will Osula or Matias Fernandez-Pardo in front of him, neither of whom has anything like the duel-winning ability to play the sort of role Bakambu does.
That often leaves Wissa needing to come deep to get on the ball, or simply not able to get into the game at all as the ball continuously bypasses him.
Speed up the midfield progression
Another reason Wissa seems to struggle is that Newcastle don’t progress the ball quickly enough to get him into those transitional situations he enjoys.
It has been a problem for Jaissle’s side this season. The ball moves too slowly from the defence into the midfield, leaving ample time for the opposition to get bodies behind the ball and prevent those early, vertical passes that Newcastle should be looking for.
Looking at DR Congo, they don’t have that same problem, which is likely due to Desabre having his principles deep-rooted in the way his team plays, something Jaissle is yet to establish on Tyneside.
Wissa is constantly receiving the ball in situations where he is genuinely able to hurt the opposition and making those intelligent runs into the box rather than receiving with his back to goal on halfway, as he so often does in black and white.
If the Magpies can begin to get that part of the game right in build-up, then we will start to see the sort of environment where Wissa becomes dangerous.
More delivery, less isolation
There are some pretty simple fixes that would allow the Magpies to get more out of Wissa when he’s playing up front as well.
Now, it’s worth noting that DR Congo often play in a low-block without the ball, which naturally lends itself to more attacking transitions and larger gaps to exploit, but what Desabre’s side do really well is getting the ball into the box early and creating chances for Wissa to finish.
That naturally leads to Wissa being less isolated when playing as a lone striker for his country, as he did tonight, because his teammates are playing to his strengths and looking to create the sort of chances he lives for.
The forward isn’t one of those strikers who is going to create his own chances out of nothing and he does need a bit of space to work with. That means that when Newcastle take so long to threaten the box, by the time the ball gets into the sort of areas where Wissa would usually impact, the centre-backs have already swallowed him up.
Some fault is Wissa’s
I would like to state that by no means is Yoane Wissa absolved of all blame, and Newcastle shouldn’t have to change all of these parts of the system just to get him involved and there are plenty of things he needs to be doing better to impact the game.
A large part of the reason Wissa does so well for DR Congo is the exact reason I just mentioned, his teammates are playing for him. He is their best player and large portions of the gameplan are centred around creating an environment where he can score goals.
At Newcastle that is unfortunately never going to be the case, meaning Wissa has to figure out how to operate as part of the cast rather than the main character.
But, if the Magpies can even do one of the things I mentioned, which should hopefully come as the squad get better at implementing what Jaissle wants, then we may start to see a version of Yoane Wissa that more closely resembles the one who scores so often on the international stage.
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