Bournemouth’s Tyler Adams has revealed how he resorted to trash talk in an effort to distract Newcastle United’s Nick Woltemade – but the £69million signing was ‘too nice’ to bite.
Midfielder Adams, standing at 5ft 9ins in height, was handed the onerous task of marking 6ft 6ins striker Woltemade at free-kicks and corners. And, in an effort to even up the mis-match, the USA international tried various tactics including a few verbal volleys.
‘I always mark the biggest players,’ said Adams. ‘It’s a case of grappling, gripping, pulling, being sneaky, holding on for dear life. I try my best.
‘I’m just, I’m used to, you know, talking trash and then someone talking trash back, but there was none of that.
‘He was a very nice guy, actually. He was. And he actually made me a little bit uncomfortable as he was so nice.
‘I haven’t played with many Germans that have a high level of trash talk, but he was a great guy.
Tyler Adams has revealed he tried trash talking Nick Woltemade but didn’t get much of a response
He said the Newcastle star was ‘a nice guy’ and it made him ‘uncomfortable’ that he didn’t end up in a war of words
‘I had hoop dreams of becoming a basketball player, but it was never going to be in my favour at my height. So I realised very quickly that looking up at him, that it was it was never an opportunity for me to be a professional basketball player.
‘It worked though as it was nil-nil.’
Adams has been instrumental in Bournemouth’s rise to fourth in the table, their best start to a Premier League season.
The USA international has missed the latest round of fixtures with his country to be with his wife as she prepares to give birth to their second child.
However, one game he didn’t want to miss was his return to face former club Leeds United at Elland Road.
Adams had one season at Leeds where a hamstring injury curtailed his involvement and, after they were relegated, he joined Bournemouth. The Leeds support gave him a raucous welcome booing his every touch and he didn’t expect anything less.
Talking to Men in Blazers Network, Adams said: ‘I loved it. there is something about it that I absolutely love. I don’t know what it was. I don’t know if it was being back there. I don’t know if it was the energy of the game.
‘I obviously knew what was going to happen and it was what it was, but, I enjoyed every second that I played there circumstances, what they were.
Adams has been instrumental to Bournemouth’s success this season – they are fourth in the Premier League
‘You have to think 35,000 people in a stadium cheering against you. I’m from Wappingers Falls. I don’t know if there’s 35,000 people in Wappingers Falls, but they (Leeds fans) had the energy to cheer against me. I love that. I mean I won my tackles.’
Bournemouth face Crystal Palace next where Adams will come up against his friend and USA teammate defender Chris Richards.
‘Chris talks a lot off the pitch, I mean a lot, but he’s quiet on it.’
The main focus though will be on maintaining their form with much of it down to Andoni Iraola’s minimalist approach. Indeed, the Spanish tactician has said he doesn’t want to see his over performing squad until Tuesday.
‘We don’t talk after after games,’ says Adams. ‘It’s just that that’s what he does. So we got a text in the group chat that we didn’t have to be back in until Tuesday.
‘So normally, like if it’s not an international break, we’ll go in the next day and in the morning when we’re out on the pitch, we’ll take two minutes and just discuss what we thought about the game. if anyone has any input, say their input and then we’ll watch video and that’s that.
‘In our circumstance, I think it’s good because again, it gives a lot of our guys time to regenerate. Go again, get some good training and get days off and then it’s in the preparation.’
