Manchester City v Newcastle United: Eddie Howe has discussed Nick Woltemade’s recent change of role at Newcastle United.
While impressive, the remarkable stat showed the German’s impressive scoring start was not sustainable as he was often left isolated and starved of opportunities during games. He was feeding off scraps but still delivering.
The 24-year-old has since found goals more difficult to come by, with his strike last week at Aston Villa in the FA Cup being his first goal in 13 matches. His last Premier League goals came in a 2-2 draw against Chelsea at St James’ Park over two months ago.
Woltemade’s goal at Villa Park came following a slight change in role for Newcastle’s record signing. Instead of leading the line, he has recently been deployed in a deeper attacking midfield role - a change that has so far proven to be effective.
While Newcastle have had limited training time amid a busy run of fixtures, it’s something head coach Eddie Howe has been able to implement well.
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Nick Woltemade in midfield for NUFC
“We've done a lot of work with him in that position, away from the game day, as much as we can with the limited training time that we have,” Howe explained. “So yes, we're not training. When I say we're not training, we're not training to the intense levels, of course, that we would when it’s one game a week.
“But we are turning up, as we will today, and we will train. But then it's what you do in that time that's the really important thing.
“Nick's attitude to his work has been excellent, so we've asked him to play a slightly different role. Albeit it's not a million miles from how we were playing with him as the number nine.
“He was coming low, he was coming deep. It's just he's slightly to one side. So I don't see a big, massive issue here. He's a player that plays better in between the lines than stretching the line. I think that's obvious.
“It's more the defensive work that he has to then grasp, and what we ask of him off the ball. And that's where I have to say, even as a number nine leading the line, his off-the-ball performances were really, really good.
“Tactically, he's a very, very intelligent player. He's obviously been well-educated in his former clubs. So he took to it really quickly, and full compliment to him for doing that.”
Still, Howe maintains that Woltemade’s change in role isn’t too different to what it was when playing as a striker. The key difference now is that he has another striker playing further ahead of him.
“I don't think it's that different personally,” Howe added. “Is there slightly more physical demand? Yes, but it's slight. And I think the thing with Nick, and we noticed this straight away from working with him, he's got really good endurance level.
“So his ability to run and cover long distances is actually very, very high. So, yes, I think he can do it. Of course, there's things to learn and improve and develop within his game in that position. But I think he's a versatile player.”
But can Woltemade do it against Manchester City?
Playing in midfield against Qarabag is slightly different to facing Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League as Newcastle will on Saturday evening (8pm kick-off).
While Newcastle enjoyed plenty of possession and chances in Baku, that rarely proves to be the case at Man City.
As such it would be a true test of the Woltemade midfield experiment should Howe opt to continue with it this weekend.
But The Magpies boss has dropped a hint that he just might.
“We will see,” Howe said when asked if Woltemade can play the role against City. “But I'd say from what I've seen in training and the way that he's taken to the work that we've done with him, I'd say yes.
“Of course, doing that in one environment is different to doing it on match day with the pressure and the game and everything that entails. But I wouldn't play him there if I didn't think he could do it.”
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