'Nothing in life is fair': Has wife of Newcastle United star aimed a dig towards Eddie Howe via Instagram?

Football can be a brutal sport for a player. They can be on top of the world one minute and bottom of the pile the next, and while the players themselves will often try to hide their true feelings from the media, the family of players aren't bound by that same professionalism.

It seems that the wife of one Newcastle United player couldn't mask her disappointment on Sunday after her husband was dropped from the first team.

Nick Pope was reinstated to the starting lineup just days after it was announced that Martin Dubravka had signed a new deal at the club after doing so well covering for the injured Pope.

It seemed like a brutal call given the timing, and six minutes into the match when Pope was in no man's land for Nottingham Forest's opening goal, there's no doubt that Lucia Dubravka was feeling justified in what seemed like a pretty obvious dig at Eddie Howe's team selection.

@madelipe_/Instagram via NUFCBlog.co.uk

Mrs Dubravka wasn't happy with Eddie Howe's team selection on Sunday

As spotted by NUFCBlog, Lucia Dubravka posted a photo from her St James' Park seat with "Nothing in life is fair" over the top of it.

It's hard to interpret that any other way than a swipe at the fact that Dubravka had to make do with his place on the bench again after Eddie Howe begged him to stay.

Whether Dubravka would have affected the outcome of the game, we'll obviously never know, however, as poor as Pope's positioning was for the first goal, it was his quick distribution that led to a couple of Newcastle's goals.

Was reinstating Nick Pope the right move by Eddie Howe

Personally, I'm far from convinced by Nick Pope these days. His footwork has always been terrifying, but that opening goal is going to haunt me for months. Where was he?

We're not sure that airing your grievances in public the way Lucia did at the weekend is the way to go, but at the same time, she has every right to do so, and every right to be upset.

We just hope that Martin Dubravka had been told well in advance of Howe's decision to soften the blow.