Solving Newcastle’s Nick Woltemade conundrum: Why Toon need more than goals from the striker, the team-mate who holds the key to unlocking the £69m man’s best form and the expert view on Eddie Howe’s next move

Nick Woltemade is both a solution and a problem for Newcastle United. He has been the goalscorer they needed but the striker they never knew they wanted.

This is not a criticism of the 23-year-old. He has scored six goals from six shots on target and has worn the jersey with character and charisma. To call him a cult hero undersells his popularity, because every Geordie has been in awe of the big German.

Woltemade is clever, skillful and, as the stats would suggest, clinical. Give him a chance and he will score. But as those early days have turned into weeks, creating opportunities for him has become an issue, especially away from home. With it, Newcastle’s identity has become blurred, where once the blur was the speed of their frontline. Everyone knew what Eddie Howe’s team were about – fast, front-foot football. They used to go for the jugular, but right now they’re struggling to clear their throat.

Woltemade, then, is not the profile of forward they ever envisioned as a replacement for Alexander Isak. It is why they first tried to sign the likes of Joao Pedro and Hugo Ekitike – plug-in and play alternatives.

Their £69 million club-record purchase, rather, prefers to play with his back to goal in deeper areas. He is more sculptor than sprinter and looks as much like a No. 10 at times, dropping into holes to support a striker. The problem is, hey IS the striker. As such, Newcastle again looked light at the top end of the pitch, just as they did at the beginning of the season when Isak was on strike. The knee injury suffered by Yoane Wissa has not helped their situation.

Speaking after the 3-1 defeat at Brentford on Sunday, Howe said it was up to him to find the answers to the questions surrounding his 14th-placed team. So, what does he do with Woltemade and the center forward position? Here, we take a closer look at the options, with the help of former Arsenal and England striker Alan Smith…

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON

This would be to stick with a 4-3-3 system with Woltemade as striker and hope they can find a way to redraw the playbook to get the best out of him. That, though, is hard to achieve when training time is at a premium amid three-game weeks.

The problem here is that Woltemade will not play on the shoulder of the last defender – he is closer to the shoulder of his own midfield. Because he does not carry that threat of bursting in behind, to the Isak, opposition defenses are stepping up and pushing Newcastle back towards their own goal.

The solution would be to drop balls into the space for wingers or front-running midfielders to get after, but the wingers are out of form and midfielders such as Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali aren’t showing a capacity to break those lines. As a result, Newcastle look stale and out of ideas in attack.

To carry on in the hope of it clicking with Woltemade continuing to drop deep would, you suspect, not bring about the improvement needed. Opponents are fast learning how to combat the current set-up.

‘Brentford smothered Woltemade and he hardly got a kick,’ says Smith, who was commenting on the game for Sky Sports. ‘I could feel his frustration because you hardly noticed him.

‘Attacking-wise, he was almost non-existent. He became isolated and that’s part of the reason why he comes looking deep for the ball. He is quite clearly someone who needs service into the box – that isn’t happening.

The onus is on the wide players to either get around him or supply those passes or crosses for him to feed off. They’ve got to do more to push the opposition defense back. If they do that, it will free up space for Woltemade. At the moment, it’s all too congested.’

Smith is right, Newcastle cannot be the team they want to be or need to be with the current personnel in the current system.

REPROGRAMS WOLTEMADE

Howe could tell the striker to be just that – stay high up the pitch! He touched the ball only four times in Brentford’s penalty area and that has been a theme of his time so far. When he does get in the box, he invariably leads to goals. His first penalty-box involvement on Sunday was a flick to create Harvey Barnes’ opener.

But he also needs to start missing chances. The efficiency of six goals from six efforts on target is not sustainable. Over time, his goals will dry up if the opportunities created for him, or by him, average less than one per game. He has scored one in his last six now.

“You don’t want to get to the point where he loses confidence,” says Smith. As a striker, you just have to keep showing for the pass you want. Never hide. You can get these runs where things feel like they’re not going your way.

But also, you can’t always look at your teammates, you have to find solutions yourself. Put yourself in the right areas and make things happen. He is very clever and can maneuver the ball with his feet so well. He might have to start creating some of his own chances.’

Retraining Woltemade to be more like Isak cannot happen, of course, but Howe can make tactical tweaks to get him into the areas Smith talks about. To watch him at present, he is too far from the goal for too much of the game. There is not enough fear factor for the opposition.

GO TWO UP TOP!

Woltemade does not look like a lone striker in the modern game – that is, a player who will press from the front with pace, energy and aggression. Despite having spent more than half of Isak’s money on him, it feels like the hole left behind by the Swede remains.

Again, that should not be seen as a criticism of Woltemade – it is more so the reality of the situation. To that end, start playing to his strengths, rather than asking him to play a role that exposes some weaknesses. To me, he appears to be a forward who would benefit from a partner, and Smith agrees.

‘He looks like someone who could work well in a second,’ he says. But teams don’t do that now, really. Having Wissa on the wing when he comes back, with license to come inside and offer support, is the most obvious solution. Wissa can make a big difference. That will give Woltemade a spark, either through competition for his place or playing closer to him.’

One other option until Wissa is up to speed is Anthony Gordon. He started the season at No. 9 and played well, offering the intensity that is (or was) Newcastle’s hallmark. To play Gordon in that role again, with Woltemade just off him, is a move Howe should consider.

THE VERDICT

A lot is riding on the return to fitness of Wissa, who is due back in late November or early December. Woltemade and the team look in need of a different presence in attack, especially on the road where it has not won since April.

‘The midfield is not functioning like I’d expect it to,’ says Smith. They didn’t seem to have the same energy. As a team, they were so blunt compared to what we’ve seen in recent seasons. They’re trying to change the style and it’s proving a bit clunky at the moment.’

Changing the style, though, was never really the intention. There is no doubt Newcastle have signed a very talented footballer in Woltemade, but his skillset does not allow for a smooth transition in a post-Isak world.

“He is chalk and cheese with Isak, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a big success in the Premier League,” says Smith. ‘He is one of a kind. The way he took his first goal, he nodded it so casually, I thought, “Oh, he will not be intimidated by the move”. And he hasn’t been, he looks very cool in those situations around the goal. There just haven’t been enough of them. Once Newcastle find a way to play with him – and him with them – I’m excited to see what kind of player he can be.’

In the short-term, it feels like Woltemade needs a foil. Perhaps the best solution to the problem that has presented itself would be to play Gordon or Wissa around him. That would be a big leap for Howe to do away with his 4-3-3 formation, but he needs to try something new, because sticking to the old risks Newcastle being left behind.