Nick Pope and getting proper recognition | OneFootball

Nick Pope arrived last summer to what I would describe as bemusement, when it came to many / most Newcastle United fans.

The reaction tending to be along the lines of ‘Why are we signing him when we’ve already got Martin Dubravka and Karl Darlow?’

The belief that other positions needed targeting more, when it came to making moves in the transfer market.

It was all very low key and despite having become a regular in the England squad whilst at Burnley, seemingly no real interest from any other Premier League clubs.

Very quickly in pre-season, it became clear that Nick Pope was going to become Eddie Howe’s new number one.

Martin Dubravka not taking the news well, which was no surprise, though going on a pointless loan move to Man U was a surprise AND a total waste of time.

Anyway, Nick Pope.

Along with Kieran Trippier, the only Newcastle United players to start every single NUFC Premier League match this season.

I think the goalkeeper has been outstanding and yet, I don’t think he has had anything like the recognition that he should have done.

Whether that is the media, or indeed many Newcastle United fans.

A significant minority are fixated on Nick Pope not being great when it comes to having the ball at his feet, rather than his ability to keep the ball out of that net thing with his hands…. and feet.

This is the Golden Glove leader board, the Premier League keepers with the most clean sheets:

13 Nick Pope (Newcastle United)

12 Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal)

11 Alisson (Liverpool)

11 Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa)

10 José Sá (Wolves)

10 David Raya (Brentford)

10 Ederson (Man City)

9 Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea)

7 Lukasz Fabianski (West Ham)

Whilst this is the Premier League table on Thursday morning, including how many goals each team / goalkeeper have conceded:

As you can see, Nick Pope and Newcastle United having currently conceded 25 goals, then Man City four more, Chelsea 10 more, Man U 12 more, Arsenal 13 more, Liverpool 14 more.

I hear journalists and some NUFC fans saying ‘Yes, but what about the great defence in front of him?’

Well you can surely say that about pretty much any goalkeeper with a record of success when it comes to keeping the ball out of the net. Just look at the likes of Man City and their team has the ball pretty much all the time, so how often does the ball even get close to their goal???

Watching the match on Sunday, it simply reinforced by belief in Nick Pope and the impact he has had.

Newcastle United fast out of the blocks and scoring within seconds to set them on their way to a massive commanding win.

Lloris saving Joelinton’s shot but Murphy putting the rebound away.

As well as celebrating our goal and starting the match in such a superb way, I couldn’t also help but think, if that had been Nick Pope, it would never have been a goal.

Watching TV replays later simply proved it. Honestly, Nick Pope would have saved that Joelinton shot AND held onto it.

That is often the thing isn’t it with the best goalkeepers.

They do things, make saves that look comfortable, BUT ones which other goalkeepers wouldn’t have done.

Pope’s positioning is excellent, he is brave and comes for pretty much any ball into the box, has great reflexes and reach, is brilliant when sweeping behind his defence and basically… is just very good at stopping the ball going into the net.