No more excuses - It's time for Eddie Howe to make a big call for the sake of Newcastle United's season
Newcastle United fell to yet another away defeat tonight as Marseille came from behind to beat the Magpies 2-1 in the Champions League.
For whatever reason, Newcastle simply cannot hold on to a lead when on their travels this season, and it's costing us massively.
That is a team-wide problem, however, and not one that can be fixed overnight, unfortunately.
There is, however, one huge issue that Eddie Howe can address immediately. Even though we all know he won't do it.
We know Eddie Howe won't do it, but it really is time to drop Nick Pope
Nick Pope has to be dropped. His mistakes are costing us far too many goals and ultimately way too many points.
All goalkeepers make mistakes, and most can be forgiven if they are few and far between, but as Magpies 24/7 pointed out on X, this is now four big mistakes in the last three away games that have cost us big.
It's not just small errors that Pope is making, which is why we're calling for the nuclear option. His distribution, particularly with his feet, has always been an issue, but lately he's taken to trying to punch the ball away rather than catching it, which is piling pressure on the defence.
His decision-making has been crazy for a while now. He comes rushing off his line and out of his area, but have you ever watched him do that and felt confident that he'd deal with it properly? Ever since that red card against Liverpool, the second we see him rushing out, I've wished I was wearing nappies!
Step up, Aaron Ramsdale, it's your time
Aaron Ramsdale has proven to be a more than adequate understudy, and we feel that it's now time for him to take the number one spot.
I've been a big defender of Nick Pope's in the past, but my patience is exhausted with him now. It's time to see what Ramsdale can do, and if he has a good go, then we make his move permanent, and if not, we go back for James Trafford.
Either way, if we go into next season with Nick Pope as our first-choice goalkeeper then we're doing something very wrong.
