Alan Shearer unleashes scathing criticism of Newcastle United star after poor outing against Manchester City
Newcastle United can count themselves fairly unlucky to have come away from the Etihad Stadium with nothing on Saturday night after putting in a strong performance against Manchester City.
A disallowed goal robbed the Magpies of what would have been a well-deserved point, but for the most part, it was hard to complain as the lads put in a huge shift after such a trying week.
Man City had a week off to prepare for this game, whereas Newcastle faced Premier League opposition in the FA Cup the weekend before, followed by a 5000-mile round trip in midweek. You'd have thought by the end that it was the home side who had endured the tougher week.
There was one Newcastle player whose performance reflected the hectic schedule, though, and that was Nick Woltemade, who we criticised last night for being lazy.
Alan Shearer doesn't seem too impressed with Nick Woltemade
Nick Woltemade was playing in a deep midfield role again with Anthony Gordon playing up front, but there was still no striker's instinct on display by the German as he jogged around, the middle of the pitch, something that seemed to attract the attention of Alan Shearer, who criticised Woltemade on Premier League Productions (h/t Newcastle World).
“Clearly, Woltemade is an issue for Newcastle. The money they spent on him, near enough £70million, then deciding to play Gordon as a centre-forward, tells you he’s not quite been what they thought he could be in that position.
"They’re trying to work out what’s best for him. Is he a No.10? Probably not. They try and play him in more of a midfield role… you see he can’t press, because he hasn’t got the legs, he hasn’t got the energy to do what Eddie Howe’s teams have done which have made Newcastle successful over the years.
"You saw that with the second Manchester City goal, when he went to press he was beaten far too easily. He is an issue for Newcastle. It was always going to be a difficult situation because of the Alexander Isak situation, because of what he did and what happened. It hasn’t worked well for anyone.”
What do Newcastle United do with Nick Woltemade?
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Write him off as a failed experiment.0%
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Stick with him, it's just one season, and he had no pre-season and minimal training.0%
Should Newcastle persist with Nick Woltemade next season?
We really want to love Nick Woltemade. He made a great start to life at Newcastle, and we thought we'd struck gold when he arrived, but lately we're wondering what it is we've bought.
There's a top player in there, but as for what position he plays, your guess is as good as mine at this point.
Hopefully Newcastle will stick by him, give him a full pre-season to figure out what his best position is and how we can get the best out of him, but right now, it's certainly not as a main striker, that's for sure.
