Nick Woltemade has been talking about Newcastle United.
The former Stuttgart striker discussing how things are going at St James’ Park.
Nick Woltemade had only made 31 starts in top tier league matches before moving to Tyneside.
So it has been a major challenge this season, in both club and international football.
Nick Woltemade has already played in 52 matches this season for Germany, Newcastle United and Stuttgart.
The forward has been speaking to SueddeutscheZeitung, translation via SportWitness, Big Nick quizzed on his six months playing for Newcastle United so far.
In that time, Nick Woltemade has started 33 Newcastle United matches (12 sub appearances) and scored 10 goals,, plus providing five assists.
Nick Woltemade asked about claims that his form has fallen sharply with Newcastle United: “I don’t see this as negatively as it is seen [by some] from the outside, for me it is still a normal process. You could look at it from the outside and say: ‘He only scored a goal since the new year, what is wrong? But who really knows my games, knows why that is. I’m playing at a very different position than I did at the start of the season.”
In Newcastle United’s second last Premier League match before the internationals, United won 1-0 away at Chelsea.
Nick Woltemade taking that game as a prime example of Eddie Howe asking him to play a certain role now: “In the game against Chelsea, I played some kind of man-to-man coverage against Cole Palmer in midfield, he is an offensive ten. You can imagine in which areas I was traveling in the field. I know that you connect me with goals, but you can’t compare the goal percentage of a striker to that of a midfielder who plays 50, 60, 70 metres from the opposing goal. I am a completely different Nick Woltemade at the moment when I was at the start of the season. At the moment, I would have to be rated more by how I lead my duels or secure the spaces.”
As outlined above, Nick Woltemade has made 33 starts for Newcastle United and scored 10 goals, plus got five assists.
Generally playing a more withdrawn role, Big Nick has still contributed assists since the new year, plus scoring at Aston Villa in the FA Cup. His last assist coming in that Sunderland match Newcastle’s most recent game.
Nick Woltemade: “I score a lot less goals [at the moment] but I’m completely relaxed, I don’t think it’s bad to expand my repertoire. That’s the job I’ve just got and I’m trying to master that. And I am convinced that it will make me stronger in the long run, if I also learn to deal with such phases. I am playing half left or half right in a five man midfield at the moment and would like to be judged by this profile. If someone insinuates a form crisis, I would just say that he doesn’t see many games of Newcastle United.”
Eddie Howe has also been impacted by key injuries, as well as choosing to use Anthony Gordon to give more pace through the middle.
Nick Woltemade adding: “In the first few months it worked well with me in attack [with Newcastle United] but several things have come together. First Bruno Guimaraes is out, our playmaker, and then a few other midfielders. We are not an individual athlete, but a team. It is normal that you have to help out as a player at other positions. I played a position further back, and I think I did quite well there. In any case, the coach was satisfied with me. At the same time he may have wished for a little more depth in the attack centre. Of course, a player like Anthony Gordon can give us that.”