Newcastle United are set to be without Bruno Guimaraes until April after the Brazilian picked up a hamstring injury.
Guimaraes has been virtually ever-present in Newcastle’s squad since his £40million arrival from Lyon in 2022. It’s the first major injury the Brazilian has had since his arrival and Newcastle’s record without him in the side leaves a lot to be desired.
By now, you’re probably well aware of the fact that Newcastle have not won a Premier League match without Guimaraes in the starting line-up since he made his full debut. It’s a run of 12 games in total.
Howe is well aware of the damning stand but could point to the 2-0 Carabao Cup first leg win at Arsenal last season as the first time his side managed to win without Guimaraes - and what a win it was.
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NUFC win without Bruno Guimaraes
On Saturday at Villa Park, The Magpies were able to do it again following a change in approach and a reshuffling of the midfield in Guimaraes’ absence.
For the FA Cup fourth round tie, Howe opted with a midfield of Sandro Tonali and Jacob Ramsey with record signing Nick Woltemade dropping deep into the middle of the park in a sort of hybrid 10/8 role.
Although Woltemade was signed as an attacking player and has almost exclusively played in that position for Newcastle since his arrival, Saturday saw him referred to as a midfielder by the Newcastle head coach.
Ahead of the match at Villa, Howe even teased that Woltemade could start getting used in a deeper role to help utilise his strengths. It’s a similar, albeit more structured approach to what Howe oversaw with Joelinton during his first season in charge.
“Well, he can definitely play a little bit deeper,” Howe said on Woltemade. “When he's played as a nine for us, we have used him deeper anyway.
“We haven't encouraged him to be a runner in behind. That's not necessarily his biggest strength. His biggest strength is his technical ability and coming to feet, so we've played him slightly lower anyway.
“But definitely, I think he could play various positions. I think he's a talented footballer. He's a really intelligent footballer tactically. He's very, very good.
“So I think there's a lot of scope for us to look at a couple of things with him. That's what we're trying to do at the moment.”
Bruno Guimaraes alternative?
Guimaraes is set to be out for a busy and important run of fixtures for Newcastle, including both Champions League matches against Qarabag, the FA Cup last-16 match as well as important Premier League games against the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, Everton, Chelsea and Sunderland.
“We're going to miss Bruno's many, many strengths,” Howe admitted. “He's multi-talented and that's why he's such a special player.
“This season he's scored goals, created goals, controlled games for us. That's why taking him out of the team for any length of time is such a negative for us.”
While Howe admitted it’s impossible to replace Guimaraes and put in a like-for-like alternative, he went on to namecheck Woltemade as a player who stepped up in the midfield in the Brazilian’s absence.
“I always believe there's a way without someone,” he added. “Then other players have to step up and they have to give different qualities.
“That's why I thought Nick Woltemade did really well [against Aston Villa], because he added a flair factor and a technical aspect to our midfield, and also a physical presence and a goal-scoring instinct, which he showed in his goal.
“So, there's many positives from today from our midfield's performance.”
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