Nick Woltemade is right to be angry at his Newcastle United teammates but the striker is not exempt from criticism himself.
Woltemade produced a nice flick for Harvey Barnes’ goal for Newcastle United in their defeat to Brentford on Sunday, though the German was otherwise ineffective.
While it is true that Newcastle aren’t playing to Woltemade’s strengths right now, it’s still fair to expect more from a German international striker.
Clearly, he should be afforded some slack. He’s come into a team who just aren’t functioning and has largely done very well in front of goal.
Newcastle United’s club-record signing was frustrated with some of his teammates during Sunday’s defeat at Brentford but that should go both ways.
Nick Woltemade playing for Newcastle United against Brentford in the Premier League.
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Nick Woltemade frustrated gesture towards Newcastle United teammates
As noted by Craig Hope of The Daily Mail on social media platform X, Woltemade threw his arms up in frustration after a pass from midfield went astray.
That is understandable and is not something to ignore. The 23-year-old can’t exactly work miracles when he’s not given much service. He’s feeding off scraps.
However, it would be foolish to completely overlook Woltemade’s own ineffective performance.
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Nick Woltemade’s worrying stats for Newcastle United against Brentford
It’s all well and good saying Woltemade isn’t a classic centre-forward. That takes time to develop and the Premier League is not an easy beast to tame.
However, Woltemade has to do more at times. As per FotMob data, he won only two of his attempted ground duels and only one of three in the air. A player of his stature has to be doing more to help hold the ball up.
Brentford vs Newcastle United statistics Nick Woltemade
Minutes played 90
Accurate passes 11/14 (79%)
Shots 0
Touches 30
Touches in opposition box 4
Dispossessed 3
Completed dribbles 0/2
Ground duels won 2/9 (22%)
Aerial duels won 1/3 (33%)
Woltemade had only four touches in Brentford’s box, too. One of those came when he flicked the ball onto Harvey Barnes from the goal but that was about the only meaningful one.
For the first time in his brief Newcastle career to date, the team need more from him. He’s made a fantastic start to life in the Premier League but to pretend there haven’t been teething problems would be foolish.
It’s not all his fault of course but Newcastle’s dismal loss to Brentford exposed a lot of problems. The way in which Woltemade is playing alongside his teammates is sadly one.
The team need to help him and he needs to help the team.