‘I am surprised’ - Nick Woltemade’s common sense questioned at Newcastle United
Nick Woltemade did not have a shot against Manchester United before being subbed on 67 minutes.
Rio Ferdinand was left stunned by Nick Woltemade’s lack of physicality against Manchester United.
A toothless Toon side were downed 1-0 at Old Trafford, failing to make their dominant possession count. Woltemade was hooked on 67 minutes after being unable to have a shot on goal.
Yoane Wissa replaced him - a decision that frustrated Newcastle fans who wanted to see two up front. Ultimately, little changed for the Magpies as Eddie Howe’s men served up more of the same going forward.
‘I was surprised’ - Rio Ferdinand
Speaking to his YouTube channel, Man United legend Ferdinand admitted to being “surprised” at Woltemade not using his height effectively. He said: “I’ll be stunned if Newcastle are looking at their big No.9 and Eddie’s looked at him and gone, ‘You know what? Let’s see their team sheet coming.
“They play Martinez and Shaw as left-sided, centre back and left back. We have to play on that’. They didn’t. I just don’t understand it. Big players used to play on Patrice Evra. Now, I’m not saying they got anything out of him, but it’s like there’s a reason why you do that a lot of the time.
“If you got a physical advantage somewhere on the pitch, surely you got to hone in on that. That’s one thing I was surprised about with Newcastle.”
Eddie Howe rues attacking mishaps
Howe was left frustrated by Newcastle’s offensive play following the 1-0 defeat. He told reporters: “Away from home, we haven't done well enough in front of goal. I mean, that's obvious. Some of the games we've been really flat in front of goal.
“I think our general performances have been steadily improving but the feeling that you're going to score at any time, or you can score at any time, or that you've got goals in your team away from home is such a powerful confidence lifter for the team, and we haven't had that enough. Ultimately, that's what's cost us tonight.”
“I think you could make an argument that we should have got something from today, but ultimately we haven't, and we've had that feeling too many times on the road this year. As I said a second ago, I feel genuinely our performances have been better since the last international break, bar one big blip.
“I thought today was another step forward in terms of performance, but no one really wants to hear that. No one really wants to analyse that too deeply, because ultimately the result is the most important thing, and we're well aware of that, of the world that we live in.”