Danny Welbeck gave Brighton the lead at the Amex Stadium before Woltemade grabbed a stunning equaliser for The Magpies with 14 minutes of normal time remaining.
The £65 million club-record summer signing turned Lewis Miley’s low cross into the bottom left corner of the goal with an improvised back-heeled flick. But it wasn’t enough to help Newcastle get something from the game, as eight minutes later, Welbeck struck again to secure three points for Brighton.
Brighton boss highlights Nick Woltemade threat
Ahead of the match, Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler admitted he was wary of the threat his compatriot Woltemade posed for Newcastle.
The 6 ft 6 in striker had scored in each of his last three games for Newcastle heading into the match at Brighton and also scored his first international goal for Germany against Northern Ireland earlier in the week.
“We couldn’t really replicate Woltemade in training, but for sure there are some patterns from Newcastle that we have to take care of, and for sure, he’s a target player, so every time they play a long ball in their own half, he’s the target player,” he said.
“Every time they attack the box, he’s a danger in the opponent’s box. We need to defend our box well. We need to be really tight on him.
“We shouldn’t put him in a one-against-one against our defenders. We always have to double up on him.”
Nick Woltemade ‘unbelievable goal’
Woltemade scored for the fourth successive Newcastle match in some style, and Hurzeler was quick to give the forward credit when reflecting on the match afterwards.
“In my conference yesterday, I said I hoped he didn’t score against us,” Hurzeler said. “He scored an unbelievable goal.
“I am impressed with how fast he’s adapted to the Premier League.”
NUFC’s Nick Woltemade issue
The problem Newcastle are now facing is a potential overreliance on Woltemade, who has scored four of Newcastle’s five Premier League goals since joining the club.
After Woltemade, only Bruno Guimaraes and William Osula have found the net for Newcastle eight games into the new Premier League season.
“That would be a concern for us,” Howe said. “We can’t rely on any one individual. I think we’ve always historically been a team that scored a lot of goals. We’ve had goals from different areas.
“We’ve never been reliant on any one player. Nick’s done really well, and we’re delighted for him.
“We wanted to keep scoring, of course, but we need more from the other areas of the team. I thought there were chances there for us, especially in the second half. It was a good attacking display, albeit we weren’t clinical enough.”
Newcastle will now be looking to bounce back quickly as they host Benfica in the Champions League at St James’ Park on Tuesday night. It marks the first of three home matches in three different competitions for Newcastle in eight days.
Next up in the Premier League is Fulham next Saturday (3pm kick-off) before hosting Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup the following Wednesday.
Be the first to comment