Newcastle confirmed their place in the last 16 of the Champions League as they beat Qarabag 3-2 to secure an emphatic 9-3 aggregate victory.
Woltemade once again played in a deeper-lying midfield role, having also been moved out of the Magpies attack in each of his previous three outings.
Howe felt this evening’s display was the German’s least effective performance as a midfielder, although he conceded there were mitigating factors to help explain his lack of effectiveness.
“I think it was probably the least he’s [Woltemade] affected the game in the time that he’s played in that position,” conceded Howe. “But I thought there were some really good bits in amongst that.
“I think it was really limited in space – I thought they defended really well in front of their back four. It was a new challenge for him, something he’s going to have to overcome. We want him to score goals, we don’t want him too far away from goal.
“I don’t think it was necessarily Nick’s fault – I don’t think the team functioned well after going 2-0 up. After scoring two very good early goals, I thought we struggled to break them down.”
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Nevertheless, Newcastle’s victory has taken them into the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time in their history.
Friday’s draw will pair them with either Barcelona or Chelsea, with the first leg of the game due to be staged at St James’ Park in early March.
“It’s a massive achievement from us to get to the last 16,” said Howe. “Nothing was given to us at the start of this Champions League run that we’ve been on.
“I love the new format, I think it’s a really good thing. You get to see individual teams, and you then get to move on to another one.
“We’ve really enjoyed it, then coming into the pressure games, the double-header, I think we’ve navigated that really well. I don’t care who you play at this stage, it’s a tough draw, but we did the majority of the work in the away game.
“We’ve come through really well and the great thing now is that our season has a positive feel. Whoever we get in the next round will be an amazing tie for us. I believe that we can raise our game and compete with anybody.
“That’s what we’re going to have to do whoever we get, but I just think it’s a massive thing for us to give our season a massive boost by getting through this knockout phase and into the next one.”