Nick Woltemade has responded to his lowest moment at Newcastle United in fine fashion and Alan Shearer is delighted.
Woltemade scored twice for Newcastle United against Chelsea on Saturday, less than a week after scoring an unfortunate own goal against Sunderland.
Even aside from his brace against the Blues, Woltemade enjoyed his best game yet for Newcastle against Chelsea.
If you could go back in time and tell Eddie Howe one thing during his half-time team talk, what would it be?!
The German helped lead the press as Eddie Howe’s side battered their opponents, although they would eventually run out of steam and ended up drawing the game 2-2.
Still, Woltemade certainly did his bit at St James’ Park and Shearer was left impressed.
Alan Shearer comments on Nick Woltemade’s performance for Newcastle United against Chelsea
The Newcastle legend was reflecting on the game when speaking to Micah Richards and Gary Lineker on the latest episode of The Rest Is Football.
Shearer paid special mention to Woltemade’s performance in general, not just his goals.
“What a way to bounce back for big Nick Woltemade after scoring the own goal last weekend,” he said.
“I thought, other than his two goals, he had a lot more energy in the press. Particularly in the first half, not so much the second half, when [Yoane] Wissa came on and he came off.
“But, in the first half, I thought ‘what a way to bounce back for him’.
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“Because you can imagine how he’s been feeling all week and, of course, he didn’t start in the Carabao [Cup] against Fulham midweek.
“So, you can imagine how he’s been feeling all week after what happened last weekend.”
Indeed, Woltemade was brilliant against Chelsea, so Shearer is right to talk about his display as a whole rather than just the brace.
How Nick Woltemade delivered his best performance for Newcastle United yet
Speaking in his press conference after the game, Howe talked about how impressed he was with how Woltemade looked athletically.
“I thought it was a really good performance from Nick today, I thought it was the best he’s played for us,” he said.
“I thought he looked really good athletically. Pressed really well, helped us deliver that really impressive pressing performance.
“If the No.9 and the first man who sets that doesn’t deliver it, the whole thing falls apart.”
The rest during the week certainly appeared to do the German well.
Though he did tire, he looked a lot fresher, and Newcastle were much better for it.
Hopefully, something similar will happen this week. Newcastle will have had a rare six days to rest and recover by the time they head to Manchester United on Boxing Day.
That should give Woltemade the chance to go again, and it will be fascinating to see if he can repeat that level of performance at Old Trafford.
The Newcastle fans love Woltemade even despite that own goal against Sunderland and more performances like the one against Chelsea will only further increase that emotion.
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