Newcastle United issues, Nick Woltemade, Yoane Wissa and connecting it all together

It’s been a tough start to the season for Newcastle United. A lot has gone wrong; a lot has gone right.

We are in the bottom half of the table and have only won one away game all season, in the league.

We re also in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and have performed admirably in the Champions League thus far.

We all know the various problems we’ve faced. The ignoble conduct and exit of one striker and the instant injury of his like-for-like replacement. The lack of form of our wingers and often our central midfielders, the absence of our first choice full-backs, some high profile goalkeeping errors and away form that has been nothing short of pitiful.

A lot of those issues are becoming historic, or at least one would hope.

Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento are back and showing everyone what a miss they were.

We should see Yoane Wissa this month and it’s now confirmed he won’t be disappearing to AFCON.

The central midfield, which last season was one of the best midfield trios in the country, is starting to click. We have depth there now too. Miley acquitted himself fantastically at the Hill Dickinson and both Ramsey and Willock looked confident and eager on their introductions from the bench. I’d imagine it’s easier to do so when you’re cantering to victory and not trying to rescue a match.

Harvey Barnes has hit some great goalscoring form and Jacob Murphy has been productive when it comes to creating big chances. The two players that many would have thought likely to be our first choice wingers, at the start of the season, have really struggled though. Elanga gave his best performance of the season against Everton at the weekend and his raw pace in behind helped earn the corner that led to our instant lead. He also assisted Woltemade thanks to another commanding sprint. Gordon has shown moments in the Champions League but has produced little in the league this season.

To continue the theme of problems we’ve faced this season, I’d say another one is adapting to a new style of play.

As I mentioned, our like-for-like replacement for you know who was Yoane Wissa and we haven’t seen him at all yet. I think with him in the team, we’d play a lot more like we did last season. His pace in behind would make us dangerous on the counter and more effective with the press.

Nick Woltemade has come in and I don’t think we’ve fully adapted to the tactical style of having a player of his profile in the team. He himself struggled to adapt too, despite early goals, as the first few games he didn’t seem physically ready and wasn’t pressing at all, often walking around the frontline, not troubling opposition defenders when out of possession. I think he’s been magnificent so far and is already looking miles fitter than those first two or three matches. He’s been bought from a different league as a record signing and has appeared completely unfazed. He’s scored important goals, he’s integrated fabulously with the squad and he’s connecting with the fans immediately. But his attributes are so far removed from those of his predecessor.

You can see why Bayern wanted him and are so stung at losing out to us. He shares many of Kane’s attributes, dropping deep, offering an option, opening up the play, showing strength on the ball.

I don’t think we’ve had a striker in our lifetime who is better at linking play. Be it lay-offs, backheels, flicks, controlled volley passes, lofted through balls. He can do it all and often first time. He makes the right decision 90% of the time and creates so much space for his teammates with the speed of his thought and actions.

The one thing we’ve not really seen that Kane is the master at, is arriving late in the box and finishing emphatically. All Woltemade’s goals have been aesthetically pleasing. Two towering headers, two clever flicks, a net busting penalty and then a volleyed lob this weekend. However, we’re yet to see him score what I’d call a normal goal. There have been no tap ins, no strikes from just inside the box, no side foot curlers. He was denied a tremendous effort by a goal line clearance on Saturday. That would have fallen into my ‘normal goal’ category apart from the abnormal (in a good way) control of the ball to shape the opportunity in the build up.

Kane is a terrific finisher. He scores all sorts of goals and if the ball arrives at his feet anywhere from the goal line to just outside the box, with space to shoot, you fancy him to bury it. If Woltemade can get anywhere near Kane’s finishing ability, we’ll have an astonishing prospect on our hands.

I’ve seen a popular theory that Woltemade is more of a number 10 than an out-an-out striker. I don’t personally subscribe to this. He has all the technical qualities of a number 10 and could certainly operate in that fashion at times this season, particularly if we’re playing him and Wissa together. But I think the opportunity he presents for others in the team as the focal point could be huge once all our wingers hit form.

Woltemade is typically marked by a central defender when he is playing in a forward position. When he drops deep, he’s often followed, which then opens up gaps. In Elanga and Gordon we have two of the quickest wingers in the Premier League. If they get anywhere near their best, they will have a feast of opportunities. Elanga had one within the first minute against Everton. It was a prime example of Woltemade dropping in a little, pulling Keane out of position, controlling brilliantly and releasing his teammate. The defence was instantly discombobulated and Elanga broke free to force the corner that led to the quickest Premier League goal of the season so far.

The issue is those wingers are so quick that Woltemade is rarely in a position to make the most of any pull back. We need our other winger making an early run and ideally someone with pace from midfield. None of our main central three are lightning quick and nor is Miley but Willock and Ramsey are both pacey. Tonali could possibly offer the option if he played a little further forward.

I believe that when the ball gets to Woltemade, if we have a midfielder bursting forward to overtake him and either receive the through ball or be in and around the box when one of the wingers breaks through, we’ll score a lot more goals on the overlap.

Nick Woltemade would offer great link up play in the number 10 role, but I don’t think he’ll create the same amount of space, as he’s more likely to be picked up by a midfielder with the defence staying flatter and more organised.

If we were going to play with a number 10, I’d probably elect Barnes as my personal first choice. I read an article on The Athletic when we signed him about him being the king of the one-two finish. That season he got 14 league goals, and the basis of the article was that a large portion of them came from him cutting in off the left, playing a one-two with Vardy or another teammate and curling the return into the net.

We haven’t really seen that at Newcastle. Neither our former number 14 or Wilson were proper link up strikers. Although both technically gifted, they were box-based goalscorers in the main. If we were going to play a number 10, and I’m not convinced we will, I would have Barnes in a free role orbiting Woltemade and waiting for those flick-ons to support the attack or have a strike at goal. He’s effective off the left but we’ve seen Barnes score from the right and centrally this season. He’d personally be the player I’d play as a striker ahead of Gordon if we ever had another frontline crisis too. He’s possibly the best finisher in the team and is excellent at drifting into goalscoring positions, although he may not be as natural at it if he was the central focus of the attack.

I think if we have at least two wingers in form, they should have a field day playing with Nick Woltemade. With an alert number 10 or a midfielder that is quick to join the overload we’ll see them chipping in with their share of goals and assists too.

Murphy is always solid. He doesn’t always do the right things in the build-up but he conjures up exceptional deliveries when the opportunity arises. He’s no slouch on the counter either.

Anthony Elanga had a decent performance this weekend and we obviously need to see a lot more but hopefully he’ll start to gain confidence and form.

I don’t know what’s going on with Anthony Gordon. He seems like a reverse Samson. Get that hair cut and let’s see if he can get back to his best.

We have the likes of Willock and Ramsey that can offer options on the wing or as that overlapping central midfielder.

It will be interesting to see how things evolve when Yoane Wissa is back in the team but I think often it will be him or Nick Woltemade and having both will mean we can have multiple distinct and effective ways of playing.