Newcastle United beat Wolves 1-0 on Saturday afternoon to secure their first three points of the season, and a huge confidence boost with the return of the Champions League and Barcelona just over the horizon.
Nick Woltemade scored on his debut (the third German to do so in the Premier League following in Klinsmann’s and Gundogan’s footsteps) and took some of the pressure off his shoulders immediately by doing so, especially following the news that Yoane Wissa will be out injured until after the next international break.
Here are 3 things I liked (and 1 I didn’t) from the game:
Liked: Big Nick’s Big Debut
Following his £69m move from Stuttgart, Nick Woltemade had pressure on his shoulders from all angles going into his debut. The pressure of being anointed Germany’s new talismanic striker, the fee, replacing Isak, and Wissa’s injury all meant that if he stumbled, the headlines would already be written. Instead, the German powered a lovely header into the Leazes End net to settle a cagey tie.
The former Stuttgart man showed some neat touches, one nearly setting up Jacob Murphy from the edge of the area, and his general reading of the game was at a high level. Having to come off after just 65 mins with cramp is something that will need to be worked on, but Big Nick has already repaid some of his huge fee as he has settled some nerves due to his meteoric rise, which has seen him go from virtual unknown to Germany’s and Newcastle’s main man in less than 12 months.
Liked: Sandro Tonali is United’s new Rolls-Royce
It’s time to move the moniker of ‘Rolls-Royce’ from Sven Botman to Sandro Tonali. The Italian is United’s best player, and he cruises through most matches with fitness levels and quality that many midfielders just cannot match.
He was United’s best player against Wolves (as he often is), and his availability is something to be commended in the highest order as the lad never seems to be injured and always plays 90 mins. He showed his tremendous fitness too, when, in the 96th minute, he was sprinting back to cover Tripp’s at RB as Wolves launched a late attack as they tried to grab an equaliser.
He was unlucky not to score on Saturday too, crashing the inside of the post from 20 yards, and my only slight criticism of Sandro is that I’d like to see his output in terms of number of goals and assists go up, but with the intangibles (press resistance, recovery runs, reading of the game), there are few number 8’s/6’s in the Premier League like him.
Didn’t Like: Some sloppy defending early on
Wolves started the game brightly and had two very decent chances early on that resulted in two corners and a big Nick Pope save, as United started slowly and sloppily. It was poor and would probably have been punished by a side that had scored more than one goal this season. United were also lucky that most of the chances seemed to fall to Rodrigo Gomes, Wolves left-wing back, instead of any of their main attacking threats.
Every side will have positive spells during the game, of course, and luckily Wolves couldn’t capitalise, but some of United’s early defending left a lot to be desired, and with two excellent CB’s in reserve, it’s incumbent on Burn and Schär not to let their levels drop as I thought they did early on on Saturday.
I fully expect Burn and Schär to start on Thursday against Barcelona, but could there be a change in the fullback positions? Lewis Hall appears to be fully fit again, and would it be prudent to get Livramento back on the right-hand side, as despite him being excellent at LB, his long-term future is on the right?
Liked: Vital win at a vital time
Premier League seasons are littered with games like Saturdays; one side huffed and puffed without any real quality, and the other with the better quality has one golden chance, and the game is settled. United have the sort of quality these days to win games against stubborn opponents, and the three points and victory just calms everything down and asserts that United have been playing well so far this season but just haven’t been able to get the results to go along with performances.
That changed on Saturday, despite the performance being average at best, and United being sat in mid-table is much more comfortable than just outside the bottom three. Yes, the season is still in its embryonic state, miles to go and all that, but the win was vital for confidence and should see us go into what is a huge game on Thursday with much more pep in our step.
Barcelona in the Champions League is huge, it’s historic, and it could be a tone-setter. The Catalans are an impressive side, La Liga champions, and have started their domestic season well. But with the atmosphere we will create, I think we can give them a game and get a result. It’s exciting times again on Tyneside, and I can’t be the only one wishing this week away!
Keep the faith. HWTL
