Eddie Howe addresses Wayne Rooney's concerns over Nick Woltemade after shaky appearance in Champions League
Wayne Rooney was tasked by Amazon Prime Video to watch Nick Woltemade closely tonight as Newcastle United took on Qarabag at St James' Park.
In what turned out to be a strange game in which Newcastle raced into a 2-0 lead after just six minutes then faded into something resembling a Sunday kick-about, it should have been an opportunity for some Newcastle players to take advantage of the situation and really show what they can do.
It felt like a game for Nick Woltemade to really step up and show his attacking prowess, but instead he sat deep for the most part and lost the ball way more often than he did anything positive with it.
With Wayne Rooney watching on and casting a very critical eye, it certainly wasn't Woltemade's best performance in the black and white and that was echoed by Eddie Howe at full-time.
Eddie Howe admitted it wasn't Nick Woltemade's best night for Newcastle
Speaking to Prime Video after the game, Eddie Howe admitted that it wasn't a great night for the big German as Rooney asked what role Woltemade was asked to play.
"I think the main thing we've been saying to him is to stay in the lines and don't come away from their midfield line to still be a goal threat. He's 6'7" he should be a real target for us from crosses. And there were a few balls into the box that on another day he does get on the end of. We do want him to score goals, that's why we brought him here.
"He did a couple of lovely little bits in the first half to link play and he threaded one lovely through-ball through that we didn't score from. But that's probably the least impact he's had for us in that position."
Nick Woltemade can still come good for Newcastle if he's given time
We just can't help but feel that his confidence has been absolutely shattered of late. When he arrived at Newcastle he came with the buzz of the big price tag and off the back of finishing as the Under 21 Euros top scorer, and that seemed to carry him through for a few games.
He's since lost a lot of momentum and now he's been pulled out of position, we can't imagine he's feeling to great about that at the moment.
As we've said before, though, with a pre-season under his belt, we expect he'll be a different player next season if we stick by him, but right now he's looking like another player who couldn't make that step up from the Bundesliga to the Premier League to come through the doors at St James' Park like Luuk de Jong.
