He was worse than Woltemade: Newcastle dud must be dropped after Sunderland

Eddie Howe had spoken at great length about the magnitude of the Tyne-Wear Derby before Newcastle United’s Sunday showdown with Sunderland in the Premier League.

Indeed, the 48-year-old spoke of wanting to do Tyneside proud at the Stadium of Light in the build-up to the hotly anticipated game. Unfortunately, the players on the pitch didn’t live up to the standards expected of them, as the out-of-sorts Toon fell to a very disappointing 1-0 loss on Wearside.

In the end, a freak Nick Woltemade own goal was the decisive moment that separated the two sworn enemies, with Woltemade struggling throughout as an isolated centre-forward figure, away from just this embarrassing error.

Woltemade's performance in numbers

Heading into this crunch contest, the German had been without a goal across his last two Newcastle clashes.

He did look lively in patches against Bayer Leverkusen, having won his away side a penalty kick at the BayArena, but he would only muster up a weak 25 touches of the ball in his homeland, which would curse him again up against Regis Le Bris’ relentless hosts.

Against Sunderland, Woltemade would barely touch the ball, as Nordi Mukiele and Omar Alderete both dealt with him without having to break a sweat. When he came off for Yoane Wissa late on, the quiet number 27 had only amassed 12 touches of the ball.

Moreover, he showed none of the clinical edge up top for Newcastle that saw him somehow pounce on a Sunderland delivery, with only one weak effort registered at Robin Roefs’ net throughout.

With Wissa gradually building back up fitness now, it wouldn’t be the greatest shock in the world if Howe opted to drop his lofty attacker for the ex-Brentford striker down the line, with Woltemade only bagging one disappointing goal – in the right net – across his last eight Newcastle outings.

He isn’t alone in fearing the wrath of his manager as the games come thick and fast this December, though, as one of Woltemade’s attacking teammates also never got going in such an intense showdown.

Woltemade not the only culprit for Newcastle

It was an uninspiring match, in truth, from an attacking perspective, as only four on-target efforts could be tallied up by both sides, come the end of the even encounter.

Anthony Elanga would have hoped he could leave a lasting impression on the Derby contest heading into the game on Sunday, having endured a terrible stay on Tyneside so far, after completing a £55m summer move from Nottingham Forest.

Minutes played

59

Goals scored

0

Assists

0

Touches

27

Shots

0

Accurate passes

13/19 (68%)

Successful dribbles

0/2

Possession lost

12x

Unfortunately for Elanga, his torrid time at the Toon so far continued against Sunderland, with Magpies-based social media account NUFC Edge declaring his showing against Le Bris’ hosts as “absolutely awful”, and for good reason, when staring at his shambolic numbers above.

Even Woltemade would be able to register a single shot at Roefs’ goal, as Elanga trudged off the 59th-minute mark, having failed to test the alert Dutchman with one effort.

Moreover, instead of bamboozling opposition defenders with his trademark pace that made him such a devastating performer for the Tricky Trees, Elanga would routinely recede into his shell on Wearside, with the two dribbles he did attempt not coming off.

He just didn’t have the ball enough at his feet regularly to really try and terrorise a rock-solid Sunderland defence, with his 27 touches of the ball even bettered by Aaron Ramsdale in between the sticks, who managed to tally up a far heftier 46.

The total lack of goalmouth action on Newcastle’s end would even spur Howe into apologising to the travelling Tyneside masses at the full-time whistle, with Elanga surely replaced by the likes of Jacob Murphy for matches to follow across the jam-packed Christmas period.

Anthony Gordon also looked weak against the stern Sunderland defence, with Newcastle slipping all the way down to 12th spot in the division after such a bruising Tyne-Wear Derby loss.

It will be up to Howe to guide his forlorn outfit back to winning ways on Wednesday night when Fulham come to St James’ Park in the EFL Cup, with the time surely right for the saddened Toon boss to experiment up top, away from sticking by the underwhelming pair of Woltemade and Elanga.

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