Julian Nagelsmann cites Eddie Howe’s tactics as one reason for Nick Woltemade’s form woes: “He won’t be 80 meters away from goal with us.”
· Yahoo Sports
At the very end of his DFB press conference on Thursday afternoon, German national team head coach Julian Nagelsmann took the opportunity to comment on Nick Woltemade’s Newcastle form woes. Nagelsmann also discussed the return call ups of Woltemade’s Premier League call ups (Brighton’s Pascal Groß and Leeds’ Anton Stach) at the lengthy media event.
Nagelsmann’s final question concerned Woltemade, who – along with Stuttgart returnee Deniz Undav – are the two obvious choices to lead the line during Germany’s two latest test fixtures. Arsenal’s Kai Havertz never was a classic target forward. Neither was Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnabry, Brentford’s Kevin Schade, or Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz.
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Interestingly enough, the two former Stuttgart teammates don’t meet the classic target forward definition either. Undav and Woltemade (despite his size) have always worked interchangeably as No. 10s for both club and country. With practically all of Undav’s success this year coming from the ten slot, however, it will almost certainly be Woltemade spearheading the attack.
Newacastle have often been using Woltemade as a false nine or a pocketed ten this season. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that – after a furious start – the 24-year-old hasn’t scored in 10 EPL appearances during the current 2026 calendar year? Nagelsmann augmented some recent comments about Woltemade’s form in a Kicker interview with a long statement.
Nagelsmann on Nick Woltemade’s Newcastle form woes
“He’s a perfectly pleasant individual with a great sense of humor,” Nagelsmann began. “He possesses great character. He’s always in a good a mood during our calm conversations. He hasn’t had an easy time with Newcastle. He’s stepped up to do a good job for us. His time with us will help him.
“When it comes to his problems at Newcastle, I think you have to take the whole situation into consideration,” Nagelsmann continued. “They don’t have a striker that always plays. Eddie Howe is constantly rotating his strikers. I would be more concerned if Newcastle had three strikers that always played.
“In my opinion, he’s been playing deep very often and if he’s defending as deep as a six, there’s fewer opportunities for him to score,” Nagelsmann went on to say. “It’s unlikely for him to score as he’s not a classic counterattacking forward. He’s not a 36 km/hr speedster and he’s 80 meters away from goal.
“If I were a British journalist, I wouldn’t be expecting a 20-goal-season for him,” Nagelsman concluded. “I can promise you that, with us, he won’t be 80 meters away from goal. It’s too far away. He’ll be 30 meters away from goal with us, where he can be dangerous.”