Nick Woltemade

[joeyt]

10 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

Wouldn't better footballers improve our game plan though?

 

But we actively seek out less technical players in favour of better athletes, hence our pursuit of Elanga. Thats on the manager and recruitment staff and it's been really successful for us

 

It's why us bringing in a technical player in Nick and not knowing where to play him makes it look like our record signing was a panic buy and we don't know what to do with him for the best

[Newcastle Fan]

He had a great piece of play setting up Murphy who missed a sitter, but overall i think we should be looking at how to get the most of him up top rather than in midfield.

[Zero]

5 minutes ago, joeyt said:

 

But we actively seek out less technical players in favour of better athletes, hence our pursuit of Elanga. Thats on the manager and recruitment staff and it's been really successful for us

 

It's why us bringing in a technical player in Nick and not knowing where to play him makes it look like our record signing was a panic buy and we don't know what to do with him for the best

 

Do people genuinely think we can just buy more Elanga to reach our next level?

[LFEE]

4 minutes ago, Zero said:

 

Do people genuinely think we can just buy more Elanga to reach our next level?

 

At the Fee and Wage limit we can offer currently regardless of going into our lesser pull when all things equal than some teams we’ll have far more success rate with high work rate players with effective enough technique playing in a well organised system.

 

”Next level” will only ever be achievable when we have next level finances as it snot just about who you sign but who you can retain long enough. 

 

Maybe Elanga would’ve improved us if like as planned we had Isak playing CF…

[The Prophet]

Just now, joeyt said:

 

But we actively seek out less technical players in favour of better athletes, hence our pursuit of Elanga. Thats on the manager and recruitment staff and it's been really successful for us

 

It's why us bringing in a technical player in Nick and not knowing where to play him makes it look like our record signing was a panic buy and we don't know what to do with him for the best

 

I'm not sure that's true though, we've bought in a mixture.

 

Sure, we've recruited athletic players, particularly in wide areas of the pitch such as Tino, Gordon and Elanga. However, we've also bought some very good footballers such as Hall, Bruno and Woltamade. I'd even chuck Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Ramsey and Isak into that camp, most of who aren't particularly athletic.

 

Woltamade was bought as a striker and I still believe that's where he'll end up playing for us. We can't be sure what the exact direction of travel is, but a system with a striker who drops deep, allowing players to run off him seems like a natural progression, given sufficient coaching and time on the training ground.

 

At the moment, Nick being able to drop into midfield feels like a marriage of convenience, granted it's a great option to have going forward. I'm really puzzled as to why it's being framed as a negative, particularly given on the whole, he's played pretty well there.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think Elanga is actually supposed to be a technical upgrade and someone who can hurt teams in different ways to Murphy. He's just been shit. 

[joeyt]

5 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

I'm not sure that's true though, we've bought in a mixture.

 

Sure, we've recruited athletic players, particularly in wide areas of the pitch such as Tino, Gordon and Elanga. However, we've also bought some very good footballers such as Hall, Bruno and Woltamade. I'd even chuck Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Ramsey and Isak into that camp, most of who aren't particularly athletic.

 

Woltamade was bought as a striker and I still believe that's where he'll end up playing for us. We can't be sure what the exact direction of travel is, but a system with a striker who drops deep, allowing players to run off him seems like a natural progression, given sufficient coaching and time on the training ground.

 

At the moment, Nick being able to drop into midfield feels like a marriage of convenience, granted it's a great option to have going forward. I'm really puzzled as to why it's being framed as a negative, particularly given on the whole, he's played pretty well there.

 

We look a completely different team with Gordon up front because he can press and stretch the defence. I'm still struggling to work out what attributes Woltemade has to be a striker in our team.

 

The Howe quote he says Nick is 6ft 7 so should be a target in the box but he's barely won a header since his first month of joining

 

I don't think you can have a go at the forum for querying why our record signing we've no idea where he's meant to be playing for us 

[The Prophet]

15 minutes ago, joeyt said:

 

We look a completely different team with Gordon up front because he can press and stretch the defence. I'm still struggling to work out what attributes Woltemade has to be a striker in our team.

 

The Howe quote he says Nick is 6ft 7 so should be a target in the box but he's barely won a header since his first month of joining

 

I don't think you can have a go at the forum for querying why our record signing we've no idea where he's meant to be playing for us 

 

I agree that at present we look better with Gordon up top, hence the marriage of convenience. Woltamade gets to display his best attributes in midfield, while we fill the creativity void in Bruno's absence. It also allows Eddie, who has bemoaned the inability to utilise the training ground, to revert to a familar system that the players are comfortable with.

 

Woltamade can be a success in this team if he continues to develop his game and we build the team around him. This is more or less what we did with Isak and it took over a year to evolve into that. Isak became a better penalty box striker and we built our attack around his strengths. I don't see why we can't do that again with a bit of time and patience?

 

Even then, he's playing well in midfield at the moment and the current system has looked alright in the last few games. It just seems like a bit of a bizarre time for an inquisition. Granted in typical NO fashion, it's gone well beyond the at times with calls to sell him, generally writing him off and weird digs at his personal life.

[TheEntertainer]

He was very poor last night so I understand some of the frustration there, but I think prior to that he's looked pretty good in the last couple of games playing in midfield, as I said in the Osula thread I'm not sure you can take much from last night as it was such a non-event of a game and no-one was really playing to their potential (other than big Joe who is a hero) 

[joeyt]

I've seen that a few times now that we should build the team around Nick

 

I find that perplexing because I don't think he's shown anywhere near the talent that Isak showed when he first joined

 

Would seem mad to overhaul everything just to accommodate a positionless Woltemade who I think most of us are trying to work out if he's even suitable for this league

[Zero]

7 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

I agree that at present we look better with Gordon up top, hence the marriage of convenience. Woltamade gets to display his best attributes in midfield, while we fill the creativity void in Bruno's absence. It also allows Eddie, who has bemoaned the inability to utilise the training ground, to revert to a familar system that the players are comfortable with.

 

Woltamade can be a success in this team if he continues to develop his game and we build the team around him. This is more or less what we did with Isak and it took over a year to evolve into that. Isak became a better penalty box striker and we built our attack around his strengths. I don't see why we can't do that again with a bit of time and patience?

 

Even then, he's playing well in midfield at the moment and the current system has looked alright in the last few games. It just seems like a bit of a bizarre time for an inquisition. Granted in typical NO fashion, it's gone well beyond the at times with calls to sell him, generally writing him off and weird digs at his personal life.

 

“Patience” no longer exist here, simply as that.

 

 

[Yorkie]

I've been a critic of Woltemade but I thought he was excellent in the midfield role in Baku and particularly at Villa in the cup. I'm not sure last night provides compelling evidence that he's completely unsuited; it's a new role for him and it was a bit of a weird game.

 

As for the implications of us spending a lot on a striker only for him not to play as one, I'm not really arsed. Attacking midfielders and strikers are both component parts of the attacking unit, so if he's delivering good performances, I don't think it really matters. I'd sooner see him converted into a position where he's really useful than cut our losses.

[Kid Icarus]

Yeah, last night was probably his worst game, but until last night he was playing well imo. 

[Smal]

He has been playing well in midfield before last night, yeah. I actually think he played too high up last night compared to his other performances and had limited space because of it, but nothing was coming off for him anyway. He looked really pissed off and possibly disheartened by his own performance.

[TheEntertainer]

Just now, Smal said:

He has been playing well in midfield before last night, yeah. I actually think he played too high up last night compared to his other performances and had limited space because of it, but nothing was coming off for him anyway. He looked really pissed off and possibly disheartened by his own performance.

Yeah looked like his head went down towards the end after he'd made a few mistakes

[AyeDubbleYoo]

11 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Yeah, last night was probably his worst game, but until last night he was playing well imo. 

 

Worst game but could still have ended up with two assists as well as a couple of very key passes. 

 

One particularly brilliant piece of vision and footwork to play Murphy through (who missed). Nobody else in our team could do that. 

 

 

Edited February 25 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Lotus]

I think when you're a creative player, some of your shine is dependent on the players you're creating for.

 

Wolt should've had an assist because Murphy should've scored. 

 

I think Osula looks near impossible to play with when he's at CF. He's so erratic, how can you what ball to play into him and when?

 

There wasn't a connection with Barnes and perhaps that was a let down.

 

 

[Moose]

4 hours ago, Menace said:

 

What's this based on by the way? Genuinely curious

 

Admittedly not based on much I've seen from his time here but he's an incredibly gifted, unique footballer whose ball carrying ability, link up play and intelligence is a level above what we currently have. I can easily see a scenario where he's slotted into a team that plays to his strengths (Bayern for example) and his game comes on leaps and bounds. 
To be fair, I probably went overboard in my choice of language but my point is I don't want us to give up on him and let someone else reap the rewards. There is something to be made of Woltemade which is why I'm more patient with him than I am with Elanga or Wissa for example.

 

Also, I posted that very early in the morning before my coffee when my head is even more scrambled that usual!

[AyeDubbleYoo]

5 minutes ago, Lotus said:

I think when you're a creative player, some of your shine is dependent on the players you're creating for.

 

Wolt should've had an assist because Murphy should've scored. 

 

I think Osula looks near impossible to play with when he's at CF. He's so erratic, how can you what ball to play into him and when?

 

There wasn't a connection with Barnes and perhaps that was a let down.

 

 

Maxi suffered from this to an extreme degree. Laid on hundreds of chances for Willock and Longstaff to fluff

[Holloway]

It's obvious he needs time. At least give him a pre season to toughen up a bit and make the runs that the manager wants him to do going forward

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I'm enjoying seeing the problem being worked on by players and manager TBH, it's interesting. And obvs I love technical and unusual players anyway. 

 

I've said before in theory he should link up well with wide forwards who want to score more than assist (Gordon, Barnes) but it's not easy to actually make that work in games as fast as PL games are. And where we aren't overall holding onto the ball that well. 

 

He will always give the ball away if his job is to take touches, turn and try to find forward passes. Chris Wood can pop the ball 15 yards back to where it came from, anybody can do that. 

[McCormick]

1 hour ago, joeyt said:

 

But we actively seek out less technical players in favour of better athletes, hence our pursuit of Elanga. Thats on the manager and recruitment staff and it's been really successful for us

 

It's why us bringing in a technical player in Nick and not knowing where to play him makes it look like our record signing was a panic buy and we don't know what to do with him for the best

I think it’s more that we prioritize athleticism rather than actively seeking out less technical players. The reality is that players who combine top-level technique with elite physicality usually attract bigger, more glamorous clubs than us unfortunately.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Will say again, I think Elanga is meant to be more technical than Murphy. Actually probably is if he could find any kind of confidence or form. 

 

 

Edited February 25 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Coffee_Johnny]

12 hours ago, Shays Given Tim Flowers said:

Sets up burn for the first (I know burn doesn’t score), plays the pass for Barnes cross for the second. Plays Murphy clean through. On another day that’s two assists and a key pass. 

True, also lost possession a lot. Goes with the territory/style of play to some extent, but he needs to mix it up a bit. Fire more one touch passes away/take less time and touches (sometimes). 

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

If you’re playing in that position and not losing possession then it’s indicative of a bigger problem. The bigger issue (that Howe commented on post match) is making sure he is positioned high enough up the pitch between the lines to get on the end of chances. Think he will soon be back amongst the goals if he can just get the hang of arriving late into the box.