‘Perfect sense’ – Eddie Howe inspired by Harry Kane blueprint with £69m star’s new role

Eddie Howe has been praised for his unorthodox solution to Bruno Guimaraes’ absence by playing Nick Woltemade in a deeper role.

The Newcastle boss, who beat out competition from Bayern Munich to sign Woltemade, ironically emulated the blueprint intended for the £69million striker to fix his recent goalscoring issues.

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The German scored five goals in his first six starts on Tyneside following his club record move from Stuttgart last summer.

Woltemade then endured a 14-game run without finding the net and often looked at odds with Howe’s system at Newcastle.

However, the Magpies had little option but to continue using the 24-year-old as a lone frontman despite the obvious teething problems.

Alexander Isak, for whom Howe originally designed his attacking system around, secured a deadline day exit to Liverpool for £125m.

£55m striker Yoane Wissa then spent months on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury before making his debut for the club.

But in the absence of Newcastle captain Guimaraes in Saturday’s 3-1 FA Cup win at Aston Villa, Woltemade lined up in a No.10 role.

‘Big Nick’, positioned just beyond Jacob Ramsey and Sandro Tonali, rewarded Howe’s faith by breaking his duck to score the Toon’s third.

Howe hints at new role for Woltemade

The Newcastle boss revealed post-match: “His attitude to what we’ve been asking him to do in recent weeks, where we’ve been training him in a different position, has been outstanding.

“He’s done a lot of work, he’s done it really well, and today (Saturday at Aston Villa) he got the benefit of that.

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“I thought he was very, very good in possession, out of possession, capped off with a great goal.

“I’m delighted for him and hopefully that just makes him feel really good about himself and what the future can look like for him here.”

Woltemade’s success in a deeper role came as no surprise to European football expert Andy Brassell.

The Germany international was heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich prior to Newcastle agreeing a deal with Stuttgart.

Vincent Kompany’s men already boast Harry Kane as the focal point of their attack, meaning Woltemade wouldn’t have been deployed as a sole No.9 had he joined the Bundesliga champions.

Instead, the Bavarians had hoped to play the 6ft 6in star in a deeper role alongside the England captain – where he is now for Newcastle.

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Woltemade’s new role ‘makes perfect sense’

European expert Brassell told talkSPORT.com: “I think that it makes perfect sense given that Bayern who thought they were getting it, bear in mind, had a short term plan for him and a long term plan for him.

“The short term plan was to play him off Kane as a sort of a 10 and that would have put Jamal Musiala on sort of left of a 3 and a 4-2-3-1. and the long term plan was to have him succeed Kane.

“Now I don’t see why that should be that different for Newcastle because if you want to make the most out of him and Yoane Wissa who remember they’ve spent quite a lot of money on and he’s 29
so they need to get some bang out of him now.

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“That makes a lot of sense to me that you could have Wissa with Woltemade off him because Woltemade is so good with the ball at his feet.

“On the other hand I don’t think you want to like not play Woltemade as a striker for an extended period of time.

“He still needs to get his games in the nine because as Harry Kane proves just because you can drop deep and do stuff with the ball it doesn’t mean you’re not a number nine.

“It just means you’re a different sort of number nine.

Woltemade could be absolutely key if he plays in the 10

“Newcastle have looked best this season is when Tino Livramento has played on the right and Lewis Hall has played on the left, so you need a guy who can drop and then find them with his passing.

“Kane’s passing I think is it’s as good as I can remember from any centre forward and to say that Woltemade can get to that point, to say that any player can get to that point, is a bit of a nuts thing to come out with really because Harry Kane’s ability to deliver a ball from the centre circle is so highly evolved that I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect anyone to attain that.

“But what Woltemade can already do better than Kane is dribble round people.

“Now if you want to use him as a number 10 in the short term, well, that’s perfect, isn’t it?

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“Of course, the fact that they’re going to have to do without Bruno Guimaraes for the next 8-10 weeks, which is inevitably going to change the shape of their team.

“Using Woltemade as a 10 and changing the shape a little bit, I think, is entirely healthy for Newcastle, and I think with the way they’ve looked in recent weeks relying on this uber physical intense approach, I don’t think that will get them through the rest of the season.

“They need to find a way to control the game a little bit better at times, and Woltemade could be absolutely key in that if he plays in the 10.”