Eddie Howe has revealed that Allan Saint-Maximin always wants to stay out after training to work on his end product as the Newcastle United star looks to move to the next level with the Magpies.
Saint-Maximin has already scored five goals this season - more than he managed during the whole of the previous campaign - and the robust Frenchman has also laid on three assists after not missing a single game for the club.
To put those numbers into perspective, Saint-Maximin has been directly involved in a third of Newcastle's goals this season and his goals, alone, have helped the black-and-whites earn five precious points.
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Everton boss Frank Lampard described Saint-Maximin as 'unplayable' following his talismanic display in the 3-1 win against the Toffees on Tuesday night and the fruits of the work the 24-year-old has been doing on the training ground is bearing fruit.
"There's always ways to improve every player and I think it's sometimes a case of sitting down with the player and running through a series of things and just asking questions, really," Howe told reporters on Zoom.
"It's asking questions about decisions on the pitch and moments in the game that maybe you can isolate and think, 'Could that have been a better decision?'
"So we do that with every player regardless of their position, regardless of their age. We'll do that with Maxi and he's working very hard.
"I have to say he's always wanting to stay out afterwards and improve, whether it's his shooting or his crossing, and he's always working on things so we can't compliment him enough for that."
Whereas Saint-Maximin may have previously had to leave Newcastle to fulfil his ambitions, under the previous regime, the forward is very happy at the club - and it shows.
Saint-Maximin has made that spot on the left wing his own under Howe, who rates the Frenchman as the best dribbler he has ever worked with.
That change of role has had a knock-on effect on Joelinton, who has never been used on the wing by Howe like he was by predecessor Steve Bruce.
Instead, Joelinton has thrived in a deeper position in the middle of the park - making more tackles (39) than any of his team-mates - but Howe still sees the Brazilian as a forward player despite his industrious performances.
"I see Joelinton as an attacker. I wouldn't put a label on him as a midfielder," he said.
"He's an attacker who's playing in an attacking midfield position at the moment, but he's obviously played in lots of different positions for the club. He's played wide, but I think his natural instinct is he wants to create and attack.
"What has impressed me the most about him is his defensive awareness has just been truly incredible and his work rate for the team.
"You look at the other day. I think he had trained three or four days out of the two-and-a-half weeks that we had missed since our last game but, physically, you would not have known that.
"I thought he was immense again from that perspective so I can't compliment him enough on that."
Joelinton and Saint-Maximin both look set to start for Newcastle against Aston Villa on Sunday as the Magpies bid to win three league games in a row for the first time since 2018.
Perhaps, it is not a surprise that Howe has picked up 10 points at St James' Park since taking charge given the remarkable backing his side have had.
Newcastle have only lost one league game under Howe at St James', against champions Man City, and the head coach knows just what a fortress the stadium can be from his own experience at Bournemouth.
"I had a couple of my best experiences coming to Newcastle as an opposing manager," he added.
"I loved the feel of the stadium. It's just a great arena to play football. I've always felt that coming here. I've really looked forward to the games.
"We [Bournemouth] had a couple of really good results and we had a couple of disappointing results, and I think the crowd played a big part in the disappointing results.
"I remember one year we started really well, took the lead and were dominating the game and then the game turned and the crowd turned the game against us. That is the power.
"It's a very uncomfortable place to play when the crowd are involved because you know the power they have and, certainly, I've felt both sides of that here."
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