Nick Woltemade is not the problem as Eddie Howe bemoans lack of Newcastle United goals this season
After frustrating every Newcastle United fan on Thursday by naming a side with no recognised striker on the pitch to face Barcelona, Eddie Howe restored Nick Woltemade to the lineup on Sunday as the Magpies took on Bournemouth.
The game ended in a stalemate with neither side ever looking like scoring. Nick Woltmade looked lost up top on his own as Howe put out his side in a 5-4-1 formation.
Woltemade did what he could and got involved as much as possible, mostly a lot deeper than we'd have liked.
He did cut a frustrated figure at times as he pleaded with his teammates to get him the ball quicker and to play it into his feet.
Eddie Howe acknowledges that the team need to supply Nick Woltemade a lot more
Woltemade may be 6'6", which makes you think he'd be a great target man, but his magic is actually in his feet. He's more comfortable with the ball on his toes, which is all part of the leaning process for the team. Something Eddie Howe acknowledged this morning in his pre-Bradford presser, in which he made the point again that Woltemade will get goals, but it's all about adapting right now.
"I thought overall he had a decent game. Some of his link play in the build-up was really good. He was a focal point that we needed and enabled us to get higher up the pitch. As a team we didn't function particularly well in the attacking half. There's no denying that, we weren't creating chances for him.
"As a centre-forward you are reliant on that service and we didn't provide him with enough. We have to take responsibility for that and try to work to put that right but I see no reason why we won't score goals."
We wonder if Yoane Wissa will hit the ground running when he returns
Once the midfield and his supporting attackers get the supply lines worked out, we're absolutely sure that Woltemade will start banging in goals for fun.
With Yoane Wissa's unfortunate injury, Woltemade has the perfect opportunity to get working on those understandings.
Hopefully, when Wissa returns to training and makes his debut, he will be able to hit the ground running as a more traditional forward, but who knows? We may have all this to go through again.
