An expert has praised Eddie Howe for his use of one particular Newcastle player.
That’s according to European football expert Andy Brassell, who believes playing the Germany international deeper is ‘perfectly healthy’ for the Magpies as they look to cope without injured captain Bruno Guimaraes.
Guimaraes is a talismanic figure for Newcastle and sits four clear of any teammate for direct goal involvements in the Premier League this season, notching nine goals and four assists. However, the Brazilian is now sidelined for up to 10 games with a muscle injury picked up against Tottenham Hotspur last week, and he’s already missed the 3-1 win at Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Nick Woltemade a ‘perfectly healthy’ No.10 option for Newcastle
Unable to call upon Guimaraes, Howe deployed Woltemade as a No.10 at Villa Park - a role he filled on numerous occasions for Stuttgart last season to great effect. It certainly paid off for Newcastle as well, with Woltemade scoring the third goal in the cup comeback win - his first strike in any competition since mid-December. Meanwhile, he completed a match-high three dribbles and 31 of his 37 passes, while having five touches in the opposition box.
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But that is no surprise to Brassell, who believes that was Bayern Munich’s likely plan for Woltemade - to play behind Harry Kane before becoming his successor - before the Bavarians were beaten to the signing by Newcastle.
"I think that it makes perfect sense given that Bayern who thought they were getting it, bear in mind, had a short term plan for him and a long term plan for him,” Brassell told talkSPORT ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League tie with Qarabag. "The short term plan was to play him off Kane as a sort of a 10 and that would have put Jamal Musiala on sort of left of a 3 and a 4-2-3-1. and the long term plan was to have him succeed Kane.
"Now I don't see why that should be that different for Newcastle because if you want to make the most out of him and Yoane Wissa who remember they've spent quite a lot of money on and he's 29 so they need to get some bang out of him now. "That makes a lot of sense to me that you could have Wissa with Woltemade off him because Woltemade is so good with the ball at his feet.
"On the other hand, I don't think you want to not play Woltemade as a striker for an extended period of time. "He still needs to get his games in the nine because as Harry Kane proves just because you can drop deep and do stuff with the ball it doesn't mean you're not a number nine. "It just means you're a different sort of number nine. "Newcastle have looked best this season is when Tino Livramento has played on the right and Lewis Hall has played on the left, so you need a guy who can drop and then find them with his passing.
"Kane's passing I think is it's as good as I can remember from any centre forward and to say that Woltemade can get to that point, to say that any player can get to that point, is a bit of a nuts thing to come out with really because Harry Kane's ability to deliver a ball from the centre circle is so highly evolved that I don't think it's reasonable to expect anyone to attain that. "But what Woltemade can already do better than Kane is dribble round people.
"Now if you want to use him as a number 10 in the short term, well, that's perfect, isn't it? "Of course, the fact that they're going to have to do without Bruno Guimaraes for the next 8-10 weeks, which is inevitably going to change the shape of their team. "Using Woltemade as a 10 and changing the shape a little bit, I think, is entirely healthy for Newcastle, and I think with the way they've looked in recent weeks relying on this uber physical intense approach, I don't think that will get them through the rest of the season. "They need to find a way to control the game a little bit better at times, and Woltemade could be absolutely key in that if he plays in the 10."
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