Nick Woltemade

[janpawel]

Seeing a lot of people on twitter suggesting we will move to a 4-2-3-1 with Woltemade as the 10

 

Now I think we will certainly do this when appropriate and gives us another dimension which is great, but I can't see it being our main formation 

 

When without the ball, we usually sit in a 4-5-1, or sometimes 5-4-1. I can't see Woltemade being as good as our CM's out of possession for that. Some teams like Arsenal sit with a 4-4-2 but I'm sure we've only did this once, at Liverpool away before the Final. And Howe admitted he changed the tactics to suprise Liverpool 

 

Also, we've just bought Ramsey, I don't see him (or Joelinton really) being effective in a 2 man midfield long term 

 

Thoughts? 

[Menace]

Doesn't really make sense to play 4231 when we essentially need 2 strikers over the course of a season

[The Prophet]

At present, Woltemade doesn't have the attributes of a penalty box striker, but it's way too early to say it can't be coached into him. Isak improve immeasurably in that area over the last year and half, for example.

 

In the meantime he should thrive at arriving late and feeding the wingers from a deeper position, particularly when even Wissa has played wide right a fair bit for Brentford.

 

As with Elanga it's all just going to take a bit of time to build relationships and patterns of play.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don’t think many strikers in the PL play just in the box. 
 

Let’s just enjoy him. 

[lovejoy]

What’s he played for us? 180 mins of football? So far he’s scored a very good goal, been robbed of a pen and we’ve seen some deft touches and really nice link up play.

 

it’s impossible to say what he is or what he can/can’t do after 180 mins.

 

Because in 180 mins of football he’s proven he can be a ‘9’ and also a ‘10’.

 

lets enjoy him and see how he evolves, it’ll be a great ride.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2025 by lovejoy

[Ronson333]

 

[St1pe]

Not really seeing him as a 10 like others have mentioned. His strengths allow the space and confusion for the cb’s whether to go or not similar to how Kane operates. I don’t think he’d be the same player if he had someone like Wissa as a 9 ahead of him. 
 

I can see our wingers scoring a boat load of goals though if they can get it right with him. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

21 minutes ago, Ronson333 said:

 

 

Shock, Eddie knows. 

[Lush Vlad]

10 minutes ago, St1pe said:

Not really seeing him as a 10 like others have mentioned. His strengths allow the space and confusion for the cb’s whether to go or not similar to how Kane operates. I don’t think he’d be the same player if he had someone like Wissa as a 9 ahead of him. 
 

I can see our wingers scoring a boat load of goals though if they can get it right with him. 

 

This forum is just desperate for us to play with a 10  

 

Over the last few years I've seen people say we should give Bruno, Joelinton, Gordon, Barnes, Miley and Isak a go there. 

[The College Dropout]

Really want to see how him and Elanga gel. 
 

It’s a massive shame we missed out on Mbeumo. I think Nick W’s attributes suit 2 inside forwards

[Minhosa]

I’m so pleased he got that goal against Wolves. It’s not his fault we’ve lobbed him in the deep end because of the Wissa injury. I’d imagine everyone would have preferred to ease him in gently and off the back of plenty of time on the training pitch. Both system wise and also fitness wise. 
 

The pressure on these big money forwards must be enormous the longer it goes without goals. Penny for Sesko’s thoughts about now….
 

Momentum is massive for these guys and that early goal will have done the lad wonders in terms of buying time and patience.
 

Cannot wait to see what he looks like in 18 months after spending that time developing his game with Eddie and the coaches. 
 

The one downside of CL football is the lack of preparation time the coaches get due to game load so we’ll have to build the airport whilst flying with him. Wissa takes the pressure off that massively. 

[The College Dropout]

Aye and all the rotation. Gordon’s sending off hasn’t helped. 
But you want to see Gordon Nick W Elanga for a run of games 

[HawK]

Tonali for me, mainly for FM reasons, shocked me when the news broke because of how good i thought he was and that he'd never join little old Newcastle.

 

But for me, Woltemade is the most exciting signing of the current era, so much potential, so unique and so skillful dovetailed with players running beyond.

[Nine]

5 hours ago, Lush Vlad said:

 

This forum is just desperate for us to play with a 10  

 

Over the last few years I've seen people say we should give Bruno, Joelinton, Gordon, Barnes, Miley and Isak a go there. 

All of those are silly shouts for a 10.

 

The beauty of Woltemade is that he could play as a traditional 10, or a support striker (as Howe played King at Bournemouth) or as a 9 in the Kane mould. Hes capable of any of the above, very versatile centrally. 
 

I think we will eventually see him deployed as all of these roles depending on opposition, even if he’s most of the time a 9. 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2025 by Nine

[Checko]

I'm going to think of him as an IX. Still a 9, but a lot of 10 in there.

[Casey]

3 minutes ago, Nine said:

All of those are silly shouts for a 10.

 

The beauty of Woltemade is that he could play as a traditional 10, or a support striker (as Howe played King at Bournemouth) or as a 9 in the Kane mould. Hes capable of any of the above, very versatile centrally. 
 

I think we will eventually see him deployed as all of these roles depending on opposition, even if he’s most of the time a 9. 

There's a reason Bayern wanted him to be Kane's successor, and like Kane I've heard the term '9.5' used to describe 'em. 

 

Frankly I think we lucked out with the way our transfer window progressed and him becoming available. He's a unique talent and rare mold of a player.

 

I hope he can hit his ceiling because it'll mean great things for us, plus be a joy to watch. 

[Nine]

6 minutes ago, Casey said:

There's a reason Bayern wanted him to be Kane's successor, and like Kane I've heard the term '9.5' used to describe 'em. 

 

Frankly I think we lucked out with the way our transfer window progressed and him becoming available. He's a unique talent and rare mold of a player.

 

I hope he can hit his ceiling because it'll mean great things for us, plus be a joy to watch. 

The 9.5 term fits perfectly. 
 

Agree we got totally lucky ending up with this talent, I’m not sure how it happened but he’s a massive signing in terms of evolving the system. Hes the spearhead of our progression now. 

[Memphis]

As you are seeing with Ruben Amorim, you don't force players into systems, you mold systems around players. 

 

Ideally, that's what happens with Woltemade, he's uniquely suited to play in a holding/distributing role that can release other players, while at the same time being able to deliver passes and make touches that open up space. He's not a target man as such, and he's not a 10 as such, he's a 9 but a unique one and I would expect that Eddie will be making the adjustments in our buildup play to take full advantage of his strengths. His teammates will also need a consistent run of games with him because he can make passes and create opportunities they won't have expected right away.

 

It's unfortunate we don't have more of a bedding-in period but with Woltemade's attitude and work ethic, and the generally excellent squad/coaching around him, it's not going to be too long before he really starts to emerge as the huge talent he is. 

[Mole]

This discussion reminds me of the time when people said Rooney should play CM because he had certain skills that might look good in that area of the pitch sometimes.

 

He's a striker, he just happens to be a very skilled one.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2025 by Mole

[The College Dropout]

9 minutes ago, Mole said:

This discussion reminds me of the time when people said Rooney should play CM because he had certain skills that might look good in that area of the pitch sometimes.

 

He's a striker, he just happens to be a very skilled one.

 

 

 

Rooney didn't consider himself a proper 9 and didn't enjoy it up there by himself as he main man. At least not the type we have been asking for since Howe took over.

[Vaj]

I think the main beneficiaries in terms of goals will be Joelinton and Ramsey as they will be the ones that are expected to go beyond him when he does drop deep as well as the wingers. We have already seen it with Joelinton this season.

[Mole]

Yeah and you'll notice I talked about Rooney playing CM later on his career.

 

Rooney was much better as a second striker so I'm not surprised about his opinion on playing as a 9. 

 

That wasn't really the point of the comparison, more so because someone has the skillset to play deeper doesn't mean they necessarily should.

 

I'm pretty sure if Woltemade actually played as a 10 and was marked by actual DMs instead of drifting into those spaces and not being picked up at all he would be a lot less effective.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2025 by Mole

[Shearergol]

20 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Rooney didn't consider himself a proper 9 and didn't enjoy it up there by himself as he main man. At least not the type we have been asking for since Howe took over.

 

u wot m8?

[The College Dropout]

Yeh Rooney was best as a second striker to me.  
 

Woltemade spent last season alternating between supporting striker and main striker according to transfermarkt. 5 goals as SS, 7 as CF. What you say about playing as a 10 and being effective isn’t entirely evident by the goals from last season.
@Mole

 

[huss9]

anyone mentioned Mark McGhee yet?