Eddie Howe makes revealing Nick Woltemade claim after watching Newcastle United v Fulham footage
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Newcastle United news: Eddie Howe’s side host Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
Eddie Howe believes that Newcastle United will have to help Nick Woltemade with solutions to coming up against physical defenders this season.
The German international has enjoyed a very good start to life on Tyneside following his club-record move from Stuttgart in the summer. However, he was frustrated on Saturday and left the St James’ Park turf having endured a physical battle against Issa Diop and Calvin Bassey.
On numerous occasions, Woltemade believed that he should have been awarded a free-kick by Peter Bankes for some overly physical defending by the Fulham back-line, only for the referee to wave away his protests. Woltemade has largely dealt well with the physical challenges of the Premier League and netted a very good header against Arsenal, arguably the most physical defence in the league, last month.
Eddie Howe sets Nick Woltemade challenge
However, Woltemade’s struggles on Saturday did highlight the possibility that he may not get his fair share of decisions from referees because of his size. Whilst his size can be deceptive and he is a lot more technical than many players of his 1.98m frame, the 23-year-old is someone that defenders often try to physically dominate.
Diop and Bassey largely did that on Saturday without stepping over the line, at least according to the man in the middle. Howe, though, revealed that after rewatching the win over Fulham that he believes Woltemade should have been awarded more fouls by the referee: “There were one or two, looking at the weekend, that I think were fouls that weren't given,” Howe said.
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“I think that's fair to say and I think Nick felt the same way. But I think Nick is going to have to come up against all sorts of different challenges from defenders, however they see best to defend against him.
“Some might go aggressive, some might go a little bit more withdrawn and he needs to find a solution to figure out how best to play against that, and we'll help him with that.
“I think he's going to face a lot of different challenges this season because it’s all new to him, but I think that will be a learning experience, the Fulham game, for him."
With Yoane Wissa still sidelined with a PCL injury, Woltemade remains the club’s first-choice striker and will likely start against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night. Newcastle United, once so reliant on the striker to provide goals and win them games, have secured back-to-back home wins without Woltemade finding the back of the net.Saturday’s win was sealed by captain Bruno Guimaraes who followed up Will Osula’s effort to poke the ball past Bern Leno and seal a three-point weekend for the Magpies. Osula, meanwhile, will again provide support to Woltemade against Spurs and be champing at the bit to make an impact if and when he is thrown into proceedings by his head coach.
The former Sheffield United man netted twice in the 4-1 win over Bradford City in the previous round and it was his workrate and desire that helped spark Saturday’s late win.