Nick Woltemade addresses £120m Newcastle United question - Eddie Howe is unsure

Nick Woltemade believes that he and Yoane Wissa can play together in the same starting XI.

Despite signing for Newcastle United, for a combined £120m, within just a few days of each other, it was only earlier this month that Eddie Howe had the luxury of picking both players in the same matchday squad as each other, nevermind the same starting XI.

Wissa’s strike, just minutes into his first start for the club against Fulham last week, ensured that both strikers have now got on the scoresheet for the Magpies and that Howe now has some big decisions to make when naming his future starting sides. Woltemade was the man he picked on Saturday, with that selection being vindicated almost immediately as the German netted twice in the first-half.

Woltemade was then replaced by Wissa in the second half in a substitution that Newcastle United fans will likely get used to seeing over the next few weeks and months. But can the pair play together?Fans believe that the pair can dovetail with each other and that Woltemade can link up the play for Wissa, built in a more traditional striker’s mould, to finish off. Asked if he can play alongside Woltemade, the German told the Gazette: “Yeah, I think we can play together, now we're in the situation that we're both fit, and I hope it stays like this, and then we can see how it goes.

“It's good, we have a lot of games, we play every three days, I think now I saw in January we have nine games, so it's good that we have quality players. We need quality players, and he's a quality player, he saw it already in the games and that's what we need.”

Eddie Howe’s verdict on Woltemade/Wissa partnership

Whilst Wissa and Woltemade are yet to share the pitch together at the same time as Newcastle United players, having the option to play both of them together could be huge if the Magpies are ever chasing a game.

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But that would require Howe to change from his preferred 4-3-3 formation to accommodate both up-front or, would require Wissa to play out wide, despite Howe already being flushed with options in wide areas. Howe addressed the possibility of playing Wissa and Woltemade together earlier this month, but stressed that he would only do so if it didn’t destabilise the balance of his team: "I’ve always historically, going way back, used two strikers,” Howe said in response.

“I haven't done it so much here, but we did go through spells where we used Alex [Isak] and Callum [Wilson] together. So, of course, you can adapt any system to any two players, but I think what is really important, or if and when you play two strikers, you don't lose control of the pitch in other areas and you have your two strikers starved of the ball.

“I think it's a delicate balance for us, two outstanding players that you'd love to see on the pitch together, of course, but not to the detriment of the team.”

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