Newcastle and Eddie Howe have found the perfect Nick Woltemade solution, it’s already been confirmed
Eddie Howe opted to deploy Nick Woltemade in a deeper position to superb effect against Aston Villa in Saturday’s FA Cup win.
The German has been slammed recently for his performances through the middle for Newcastle United, but he looked like a player reborn at Villa Park.
The Magpies progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup after beating Villa 3-1, marking a second consecutive impressive away win for Howe‘s side.
Much of the attention was stolen by several controversial decisions, however, which were made without the presence of VAR.
Tammy Abraham’s opening goal was clearly offside, and Newcastle were, incredibly, denied a stonewall penalty when Lucas Digne’s blatant handball was somehow adjudged to have taken place outside of the box.
Nick Woltemade thrives vs Aston Villa
Newcastle will be aware that, on another day, this game could have gone in a different direction.
Villa had been comfortably ahead before Marco Bizot’s bizarre decision to charge off his line and take out Jacob Ramsey in the seconds before half-time, leaving Chris Kavanagh with no choice but to produce a red card.
The Magpies grew in confidence after the break and were eventually ahead through a Sandro Tonali double.
| Nick Woltemade | Vs Aston Villa |
| Minutes played | 90 |
| Goals | 1 |
| Successful dribbles | 3/3 |
| Fouls won | 2 |
| Tackles | 2 |
| Duels won | 11/22 |
Woltemade added a third in the final minutes to cap off a superb individual performance from him, and in a very different position.
Given the injuries to Joelinton, Lewis Miley and now Bruno Guimaraes, Howe was forced to get creative against Villa.
The Englishman ultimately opted for a 4-2-3-1, which saw Tonali and Ramsey double-pivot with Woltemade in directly in front of them, while William Osula led the line.
The big German is not the sort of player you associate with the pockets of space behind the striker, but he thrived, completing more dribbles than anyone else on the pitch.
Woltemade has so often let games pass him by while up front this season, but he was everywhere on Saturday, winning two free-kicks, completing 31 passes, taking two shots and eventually scoring.
Defensively, too, the 24-year-old did his job superbly, recording six recoveries and winning a massive 11 duels.
What Eddie Howe said about Woltemade
The injury to Bruno had promised serious trouble for Howe and Newcastle in the coming weeks.
The Magpies are yet to win a Premier League game that the Brazilian has not featured in since his 2022 arrival, and it could be two months before they have him back.
With Woltemade dropped slightly deeper, however, Howe may have solved several problems with one move.
“Woltemade, his contribution in midfield was really good today and Jacob Ramsey against his former club,” the manager said after Saturday’s game.
“So I thought there was some really strong performances that we are going to have to carry forward into future games.”