German media assess Nick Woltemade's performance as Newcastle United striker racks up assist in win over Northern Ireland
Nick Woltemade has doubled the number of Germany caps since he joined Newcastle United just over a week ago.
The 6'6" German striker had two caps before signing for Newcastle and has doubled that during this international break, playing the full 90 minutes when his side were defeated by Slovakia, and just over an hour in their 3-1 win over Northern Ireland last night.
There weren't many German players who came out of the Slovakia defeat with much to be proud about, but last night Woltemade had a bright start, leading the line for his country, but faded before his withdrawal.
It's not been the most confidence-inspiring couple of outings, which some Newcastle fans have pointed out, but we were never expecting him to be the finished article. Thankfully, there's plenty there to suggest we have made a shrewd signing.
Nick Wotlemade had his moments for Germany, but ultimately failed to impress
Woltemade set up Serge Gnabry to open the scoring after seven minutes last night, but that was his biggest contribution, with German media offering up middling scores for the striker. BILD gave our new forward a score of 5/10.
"At the beginning, there was that Woltemessi moment! It was impressive how quickly he reacted before the early 1-0 and played the ball deep to Gnabry.
"After that, though, there wasn’t much else, and he was too complicated in the penalty area. The lack of coolness in his finishing was far from a 90-million-euro performance. Grade 5."
Yoane Wissa will be Eddie Howe's first-choice striker for a while
Frankfurter Rundschau were harsher, only offering up a 4/10/
"Had more eye-catching moments in the first 15 minutes than in the entire 90 minutes against Slovakia. He acted quickly before the opening goal.
"He struggled to sort out his legs after a quarter of an hour and missed the chance to make it 2-0. But he faded considerably after that. Grade 4."
It all just adds to the feeling that Yoane Wissa will be Eddie Howe's main striker choice this season, and Woltemade will be given time to settle rather than having the pressure heaped on him all at once.
