In 1939, a group of geniuses were working at Bletchley Park to try and solve the German Enigma code. They made breakthroughs within a year and by 1942 they had it cracked. The achievement of this is believed to have significantly shortened the war and saved many lives.
Now at St James’ Park, with Newcastle United, we have our own German enigma to solve. There isn’t quite as much at stake with ours but, if we do it, it may earn us points and save us a lot of money in the summer.
How to utilise Nick Woltemade and get the best out of both him and the team was a huge talking point throughout the previous season.
It’s clear that Woltemade is never going to replace our former leading man stylistically. The ‘intensity is our identity’ routine just won’t work with him up front.
For a lot of the second half of the season both our expensive summer striker signings sat on the bench with Gordon and Osula preferred to lead the line. Osula had a fantastic end to the campaign and certainly offers us an option next time around.
Nick Woltemade started off positively and found the net seven times in his first 14 Premier League appearances. A goal every other game is a tremendous return for a young new signing. Unfortunately, the Chelsea game which saw him bag a brace and have one of his best performances of the season, was also the start of his downturn. He only found the back of the net a solitary time in his remaining 16 appearances. That sounds awful but as we all know he started fewer games and was tried in midfield for some of them. Getting three minutes off the bench against Tottenham, five against Bournemouth and seven against Palace was unlikely to help his overall game to goal ratios.
My feeling about Nick Woltemade is that I don’t think he restricts us. I think he opens up an abundance of tactical flexibility which could lead us to being a lot less rigid or predictable. As an out and out striker he doesn’t give us the high press.
However, when playing a 433, his ability to drop deep and link up play gives space to our midfield and wingers. More often than not, when he drops in, it pulls a centre back out of position which means if he can receive the ball and get a quick pass off, our wingers can be set free on the counter with the defence not fully aligned. We need bodies to break free in this situation though. Woltemade unsettles the defence and then if both wingers spring free with someone bursting through from midfield as well, it gives us an excellent opportunity.
I’d like to see us try different formations. Although I don’t consider him a number 10, he has the attributes to play this role. Personally, I would like to see him in a front two with him as the man that drops deep and links play. He could be considered a number 10 in this regard, but I’d like to see him starting high and then dropping deep to bring a centre back with him and disrupt the opposition’s formation.
Credit to Eddie Howe, in those last few games he did try different things. Against West Ham, Woltemade did precisely what we all want to see him doing more of. Yes, he played from deep a lot, but he arrived in the box to volley a good goal to open the scoring.
The effectiveness of Eddie Howe’s tinkering varied and it felt mad seeing Hall at right back. But the point is he was doing something he was criticised for not doing all season. He was experimenting. He was seeing how different formations worked, how different personnel combined together and how certain players operated out of their usual positions. Hall at right back didn’t work but, had it done, that may have got him the England call up as Tuchel was quite clear that he appreciated Livramento and Spence’s ability to cover both full back positions. Howe’s detractors could argue that Hall coming out of the team and then position at the vital phase of the season was what lost him his World Cup spot. But for me, Hall is the best English left back around. If Tuchel didn’t agree with that across 95% of the season, I don’t think the handful of games at the end would have convinced him.
There were plenty of areas of concern last season. Obviously, the striker position. A lack of dominant goalkeeping option wasn’t ideal nor our frequent defensive lapses and errors, particularly as the season wore on. I think the biggest disappointment though was the output of our wingers. Playing the high press 433 relies on wingers that are regularly contributing with goals and assists.
Quick pop quiz. Which player had the most Premier League assists for us last season?
Did you get it? Bruno with five was top for us. Next was Miley on four and then that man Nick Woltemade, joint with Ramsey on three. Between our four regular wingers, they managed a paltry six assists. To put that in perspective, Murphy alone the previous season got double that combined total. Elanga got 11 at Forest and Gordon matched the combined six. Barnes was one off with five. This time Gordon and Murphy got two each with Barnes and Elanga only contributing one apiece.
A factor in that is we didn’t have a good season or a striker smashing in 20+ goals. However, if the wingers aren’t working then maybe we should be adapting to play without them at times. If we did operate with two up top, we could use Woltemade alongside one of Wissa, Osula or even Barnes (maybe Elanga too looking at his goal for Sweden, he’s got that sprinting power to break the last line of defence rapidly), meaning one of the strikers will still have the pace to press and get in behind.
We can then play with three in midfield like we’re used to but also have a number 10 that helps link play and can push beyond Woltemade at times. I personally think Barnes would be perfect for this as he thrives on one-twos in tight areas and can score from anywhere around the 18 yard box. Bruno or Ramsey could be effective in that position too. Of course, Woltemade himself could inhabit that role and have a front two ahead of him.
So as well as our common 433, I think Woltemade could be effective in a 4231 (something that Howe did a couple of times in those last three games), a 4312, a 442 or a 4411.
For games where we need to be more defensively compact, we can play a 532, 541 or 5311. These options mean that the likes of Livramento and Hall can get high in support, giving us wing options but keeping us compact in the middle. With the 532 we could have someone like Osula playing alongside Woltemade, meaning that we can break at pace with the German dropping in and linking play as well as producing through balls.
I’ve suggested a lot of formations there, and I know it’d be challenging to master a multitude of tactics, especially if players are inhabiting different roles in many of them. However, it would be ideal to have three or four formations that we work on regularly and get comfortable with and I think Woltemade could function in any of them.
I personally can’t see the striker department getting overhauled this summer. Unless we get a spectacular bid for one of our current three that either means we recoup the lion’s share spent on one of the Ws or make a huge profit on Osula. It just doesn’t make sense in accounting terms to make a massive loss on one of the strikers when we have so many areas to improve.
Yoane Wissa has been a disappointment but is a good player. We’ve had plenty of individuals historically that have had a poor debut season but have grown into effective players. Most recent examples of this are Lewis Hall and Anthony Gordon. We shouldn’t write him off. I’ll say the same for Anthony Elanga. We may see a completely different player during the next campaign and if the likes of him and Wissa start the season strongly then, dare I say it, they’ll be like new signings.
I truly believe that there’s an abundance of quality in Nick Woltemade. It’s just learning how to utilise him. He has his own work to do. For a man of his size, he doesn’t do enough in the air. We know his talent is in his feet but if he practiced heading every training session, he would improve. He should be bagging 5+ goals a season from his head alone. We don’t pose all that much of a threat from set-pieces despite the abundance of height we have in our team. We need to see him winning more headers when the ball is pumped long and we should certainly see him meeting crosses more regularly and effectively.
He’s yet to play a minute in the World Cup but realistically Havertz is the finished article and has a lot more experience and big games on his CV. Undav is likewise more experienced and has already bagged three goals this tournament so our man will struggle to get much exposure. Though with qualification and top place in the group assured, you’d like to think he’ll play a part in the last group game.
This transfer window needs to see us bring in a new number one (it’s been widely communicated that Jaouen has been signed as the number two initially), at least one right back and ideally a player that can cover right and left back. We need to replace Anthony Gordon and anyone else that leaves.
The striker position feels like one of the biggest priorities but I think is the least likely to see change. We need to solve the enigma that is Nick Woltemade because once he is fully integrated and brimming with confidence, I believe he could be one of our most vital players.
Hopefully, like the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, Eddie Howe has made breakthroughs of his own across the previous season, and this next one will see him using that knowledge to bring the best out of our record signing and the team around him.
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