Nick Woltemade had looked primed and ready to start against Barcelona last night in the eyes of many Newcastle United fans – but Eddie Howe had other ideas.
The boss mentioned post-match that he must sometimes “make decisions for the benefit of the player”, suggesting he perhaps wasn’t ready to start a game of that intensity, where our plan from the off was clearly to press from the off and burst in behind whenever we won back possession against Barcelona’s high line.
In the end, the 23-year-old came on for the final half an hour, showing a nice piece of link-up play to release Murphy in thee build up to Gordon’s late goal.
He is expected to start at Bournemouth on Sunday, but Howe has responded to criticism around his benching last night and warned that he and staff must “look after” our new striker as he beds into a new country, league and team following his £69m switch from Stuttgart:
“We’re going to have to look after Nick. It’s hard enough for him to come into a new league – and you could see the physical effects he felt with Wolves and then the quick turn-around again here.
“There’s no guarantee even by managing him that he’s going to stay fit and play all the games, but we’re going to try to give him the best chance to stay fit and also acclimatise to the league that he’s in.
“But he’s made a very good start. He did well when he came on (vs Barca), I was really pleased with him.
“He was involved in the goal, so he’ll hopefully be in a good place.”
Perhaps Howe’s decision to go without Woltemade in last night’s starting 11 was a mistake, but it may look like a wise move if the big German can get on the scoresheet once again when we face an in-form Bournemouth side on Sunday.
The 6ft 6″ striker took less than 30 minutes to open his account in our last Premier League game – a 1-0 win over Wolves – and will be looking to make it two in two this weekend.
