Four successive away defeats in all competitions is frustrating enough. But when you consider Newcastle United have taken the lead in the past three, it becomes infuriating.
When you analyse where Eddie Howe’s side have been going wrong on their travels and find that Nick Pope has been at least partly at fault for the equaliser in each of the three most recent away losses, it evolves into exasperation.
An increasingly vocal section of Newcastle supporters are calling for the No 1 to be dropped, given he, like other senior players including Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes, continue to underperform away, despite usually excelling at home.
Aaron Ramsdale has looked assured during his two Carabao Cup appearances and the argument many Newcastle fans are making is that a goalkeeper should not be immune from being demoted if they repeatedly struggle. “I certainly back him,” Howe said of Pope following the 2-1 reversal at Marseille, yet the growing concern around the costly errors that have crept into his game cannot simply be ignored.
The latest at the Stade Velodrome was as inexplicable as it was damaging.
Newcastle led 1-0 at half-time following Harvey Barnes’ sixth-minute opener, with Howe’s bold decision to deploy a 3-5-2 formation having surprised and unsettled Roberto De Zerbi’s side. However, within 19 seconds of the restart, Marseille were level — and Pope was to blame.
Darryl Bakola drew Newcastle’s midfield into a press on halfway and three of their defenders — including Fabian Schar — followed, while Malick Thiaw dropped deep. The Marseille midfielder slipped a ball behind for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who had already wasted four first-half opportunities, and the ex-Arsenal striker drew Thiaw out wide left.
Pope is a natural sweeper-keeper — only Everton’s Jordan Pickford (17) has made more accurate ‘goalkeeper sweepings’ in the Premier League this season than him (15) — and is proactive, regularly coming out of his box to intercept through balls and cover.
But his judgement has become muddled recently and the call to rush out to try to clear the ball was unfathomable because Aubameyang was always going to get to it first. Pope sprinting out did not panic Aubameyang; it had the opposite effect, with the striker merely shifting the ball further to his right, leaving the goalkeeper stranded and shouting after him in desperation as he curled in a magnificent finish from a tight angle.
Cue Newcastle’s complete defensive disarray. Four minutes later, Aubameyang had his second of the night and his eighth in nine appearances against Newcastle. Pope was in no way directly at fault for Marseille’s winner, but his mistake had led to the team’s temporary loss of shape.
Howe’s side had thrown away another lead on the road and, although they ended the match with 20 shots, nine on target, they simply could not conjure a leveller.
Newcastle’s issues on their travels extend far beyond Pope — Howe rotated and dropped Nick Woltemade to the bench, partly to rest the German, but also because the team have struggled to adapt to his style away — but some supporters are in favour of what they see as a quick-fix solution of replacing one England international with another.
They point to Pope failing to get down to Lucas Paqueta’s shot at West Ham United, to him being beaten in the air from a Brentford long throw — both leading to equalisers — and his culpability for Arsenal’s winner at St James’ Park in September, when he was overeager to play out and then came for the cross from which Gabriel scored (and did not get to it). Ramsdale is also far more comfortable distributing with his feet than Pope and, at some stage, Newcastle must progress to having their goalkeeper become essentially another outfielder.
There is rationale behind those arguments and, as Howe admitted after the Manchester City victory, you cannot “tolerate poor performances over a longer period”.
Yet that does not mean Howe will drop Pope for Saturday’s trip to Everton. The likelihood is that the 33-year-old will continue in goal. He remains Howe’s No 1 and, even if errors are creeping into his game, the England international is still making big saves, too; he produced four stops against Marseille and has conceded just 13 goals in the Premier League from an expected goals on target (xGOT) of 14.35, meaning he has ‘prevented’ 1.35 more goals than he should have been expected to.
“I’m concerned when we concede goals, regardless of who’s at fault,” Howe said when asked about Pope’s mistakes. “We have to look at everything with a balanced head. Nick saved us many times. He made some really good saves against Manchester City just two days ago. That’s the life of a goalkeeper. But I certainly back him.”
Pope’s struggles have helped improve Ramsdale’s standing among Newcastle fans. When he joined in early August, many supporters questioned the new signing’s temperament and expressed worries about Ramsdale’s own propensity to make errors.
He did play well and looked reassured against Bradford City and Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup, distributing confidently and producing a couple of good saves, but he was not unduly tested in either match, apart from Andy Cook’s brilliant goal for Bradford.
Is it time for Aaron Ramsdale to get a run in the team? (Michelle Mercer/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Ramsdale was brought in primarily as an interim backup, following the collapse of Newcastle’s move for long-term target James Trafford, while the club assesses options ahead of an expected restructure of their goalkeeper department next summer. If Ramsdale really impresses, Newcastle may take up the purchase option in his season-long loan deal, but it is not as if the No 2 was brought in with the expectation he would become Pope’s successor.
The idea was that the 27-year-old could be an able deputy, pushing Pope and stepping up when required.
A growing number of supporters believe that the time is now and that installing Ramsdale as first choice would help improve Newcastle’s chances of getting positive away results. For Howe, dropping Pope would represent a nuclear option; demoting a goalkeeper is far more consequential than removing an outfielder, and it is hard to then restore them in the short term.
Should Pope make another mistake at Everton on Saturday, though, the case for changing goalkeepers will become increasingly compelling.
