Woltemade will be back leading the line for the Magpies when they host Manchester City this teatime, having scored three goals in two games for Germany during the international break.
The 23-year-old has scored six goals in all competitions for Newcastle since moving to England from the Bundesliga, but has ben criticised for his lack of involvement and attacking threat in a number of the club’s most recent games.
While he was not regarded as a ‘natural number nine’ when he moved to Tyneside, Woltemade has had to play in that position in the absence of the injured Yoane Wissa and Will Osula.
Howe accepts that has not been ideal, but also acknowledges the need for Woltemade to be more of a threat at the head of Newcastle’s attack.
“He [Woltemade] started off really well in terms of goals,” said the Newcastle boss. “I think those goals in the international break will do him the world of good as well.
“Confidence is everything to a centre-forward, so I think he can be really pleased with himself. But we have to demand more, and we need more from him in the sense that he’s the focal point of the team.
“It’s such an important position. Everything will come around him in terms of our performance, so there are big expectations on him, there's big pressure on his shoulders.
“He’s handled that really well so far and then, of course, the team behind him have to deliver for him as well and we haven't done that well enough in the last couple of away games.”
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Woltemade scored three close-range goals in Germany’s wins over Luxembourg and Slovakia, with his international side able to get him into the 18-yard box much more regularly than has generally been the case in a Newcastle shirt.
In too many Magpies games, Woltemade has looked isolated and uninvolved, often playing with his back to goal in unthreatening areas, but while Howe paid close attention to the forward’s performances for his national side in the last fortnight, he does not think it is simply a case of transferring the approach he adopts with Germany onto the Premier League stage.
“I watched those games, but it’s difficult to take too much because I think every squad is different,” he said. “Every style of play is different and the opposition is different.
“We know where Nick works best and how he operates best. We have tried to give him that framework and that environment here. But it depends how much of the ball you have and how strong and dominant you are in the game.
“Definitely, looking back at the last two away games, we have been too transitional to see him at his best, meaning we haven’t kept the ball well enough higher up the pitch to then feed him the ball in the areas where he works best. Technically, we weren’t good enough against Brentford and West Ham. We will look to put that right.”
Newcastle could hardly face a tougher test as they look to make improvements, with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side visiting Tyneside this afternoon.
City started the season relatively slowly, but their last two performances, in a 4-1 win over Borussia Dortmund and 3-0 victory over Liverpool, have seen them at somewhere close to their best, with the imperious Erling Haaland in arguably the best form of his entire career.
“We've done everything against them,” said Howe. “We've done everything. We've pressed them, we've dropped off them, we've played a five, a four. I don't think we've got anything new left to try, to be honest.
“We've been unlucky in a few games, I'd say, but then you make your own luck and you have to give a lot of credit to Pep and his team. I think they've been incredibly consistent over a long period of time. and that's why they've been the best.
“So, full credit to them, but we'll try to find a way and we'll have a new way of playing. We never do the same thing twice, so we'll keep going until we try and find the answer.”