Eddie Howe shares how Nick Pope reacted to being dropped for Aaron Ramsdale on Wednesday
Eddie Howe made a huge decision on Wednesday ahead of Newcastle United's clash with Manchester United, dropping goalkeeper Nick Pope and calling up Aaron Ramsdale.
Nick Pope had made another huge error in the game against Everton at the weekend, and Howe felt it was time to try something new in goal.
It ultimately proved to be a masterstroke as, even though Aaron Ramsdale was unable to keep a clean sheet, he did pull off some truly magnificent saves on the way to Newcastle picking up a historic win.
Earlier in the season, Howe was under pressure from fans to drop Pope, but the decision was taken out of his hands when he picked up a convenient injury. This time, he wasted no time in wielding the axe.
Nick Pope took Eddie Howe's decision like a pro
It was still a big call to make, though, and Eddie Howe was asked in his press conference on Friday morning how Pope reacted to being benched.
"Nick's had moments where he's not been selected before.
"He's a high-class person. He thinks of the team first. He's part of our leadership group for a reason, because the lads see that he's a team player fundamentally. He's been excellent, I have to say. He's been excellent.
"You can put it into context that the role of a footballer, and especially a goalkeeper, can sometimes be very up and down. But he has to see the longer-term vision, which is he just needs to be at his very best, forget anything else about team selection."So he's really focusing on his training and the fundamentals behind that. I've got no doubt with his attitude, with the work that he'll do with the coaches, he'll be back to his very best very soon."
Aaron Ramsdale has been given a second chance to take the first-choice spot from Nick Pope
Pope has been quite lucky this season that Aaron Ramsdale didn't manage to take over the role of first-choice goalkeeper while he was out injured.
Unfortunately, Ramsdale can only boast one clean sheet in his 15 starts for Newcastle, which isn't a great record, albeit not much worse than Nick Pope's.
However, after Wednesday night's performance, Ramsdale may now be giving Nick Pope something to think about. Fingers crossed he can repeat that level of performance on Saturday night. Or even better, let's hope he doesn't need to.
