Nick Pope a Clown? There is only one Clown here…

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The Mag

·23 septembre 2024

Nick Pope a Clown? There is only one Clown here…

Nick Pope signed for Newcastle United exactly 27 months ago yesterday.

One of numerous incredible Eddie Howe signings, the England international costing only £10m from Burnley, as the pressure was on them to sell star players after relegation at the end of the 2021/22 season.

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Ironically, a season when for so long it looked set to be Newcastle United and not Burnley who would be going down.

Indeed, without Eddie Howe performing miracles to rescue the inherited Ashley/Bruce debacle, that would have been the case.

Another of Howe’s inspirational 2022 signings was in the January, when with Wilson’s injury meaning no Premier League level striker available for the rest of the season, the new NUFC Head Coach took the brave and much-derided decision to spend £25m on Chris Wood. Wood used in a very unselfish role which saw not many goalscoring chances come his way BUT in that relegation fight Newcastle picked up a massive 29 points in Wood’s 15 PL appearances in that 2021/22 rescue mission.

Anyway, back to the brilliant Nick Pope.

In my lifetime of watching Newcastle United from the 1970s onwards, for me, Shay Given is my number one NUFC keeper, he was brilliant. Given was superb and twice his peers voted him into the PFA team of the season.

Speaking of which, when at Burnley, Nick Pope was also in 2019/20, given that accolade, his Premier League peers voting him into the PFA team of the season.

On everything I have seen these past 27 months, Nick Pope is easily my number two choice behind Shay Given, as the next best Newcastle United keeper I have ever seen.

What sparked this article in the here and now though, was somebody who clearly doesn’t share that opinion… or are we just talking the fickle embarrassing behaviour exhibited by a number of Newcastle United fans this season, especially after Saturday’s defeat.

As most of you will be aware, The Mag has an instant reaction piece after every match, where a number of regular/irregular contributors give their thoughts straight after the final whistle.

On Saturday, just after 5pm, this is what I read from GToon in the reaction to what happened at Fulham:

‘So our results finally caught up with our performances.

That was pretty poor from some of our more experienced players.

Bruno and Joe7 were bang average.

Isak did very little and Schar missed a sitter to make it 2-2.

However, we are always going to struggle with that clown in goal. I’m sick of ppl defending him. He cost us today big time. We will win nothing with him in goal. Quite what he was trying to do with the second goal is beyond me. A carbon copy of his stupid push out v Spurs. Get rid Eddie before it’s too late.

Nick Pope a Clown? There is only one clown here…

I am sick of seeing certain Newcastle United fans taking things totally out of perspective and saying these one or two moments/games ‘proves’ such and such, refusing to acknowledge the bigger picture and everything else that should be taken into consideration.

The way that this ‘Clown’ goes on, you would think that Nick Pope has been woeful these past 27 months, instead of the reality that he has been brilliant, match after match, week after week, month after month, year after year.

Even this season he has been generally excellent AND arguably THE key reason why Newcastle United have started the season with four wins and a draw in their five matches before Saturday.

Of course it was a poor goal to concede on Saturday BUT just the same as when say Alexander Isak misses a sitter, it doesn’t ‘prove’ they are a terrible player, or a ‘Clown’ as my friend here is claiming. The ball simply squirmed through Pope’s hand as Smith-Rowe cleverly took the shot early but didn’t get much power on it.

That goal conceded against Spurs was also at least partly down to Nick Pope, but I also felt he was very unlucky with it as well, The ball was bouncing awkwardly and Pope took the percentage move to push it to safety away to the side rather than try and hold it, the luck running out as Joelinton had left his man unmarked and Johnson from a narrow angle saw his effort partially saved by Nick Pope, but running on to Dan Burn who should have cleared the ball but lashed it into his own net. At the match I thought it was all Pope’s fault but after seeing the TV replays, I had the blame split equally between the keeper, Burn and Joelinton.

The reality beyond that though, is that along with Flekken the Brentford keeper, Nick Pope is one of the two Premier League goalkeepers who have made far more saves this season than any others. Nick Pope has conceded one and a half poor goals this season BUT has saved far more from being conceded. Even on Saturday he made some class saves, including a point blank one in the second half with his leg, that kept the score at 2-1 before Schar should have levelled it.

The much bigger picture of course is that Nick Pope has been incredible overall these past 27 months and deserves our thanks and support, not childish ‘Clown’ insults and abuse.

In the 2022/23 Premier League season, no PL club conceded fewer goals than Newcastle United, that ‘Clown’ conceded 32 goals in 37 Premier League matches, Dubravka conceding the 33rd goal in the final PL match that season at Chelsea, when Pope had long awaited surgery on a finger that had been postponed until he had helped secure top four!

In the 2023/24 Premier League season, despite all the players that became unavailable, Nick Pope only conceded 16 goals in his 15 PL starts, Loris Karius conceded four away at Arsenal, whilst in the other 26 Premier League matches last season, Martin Dubravka conceded 42 goals.

The five matches so far in the 2024/25 Premier League season, Nick Pope has conceded six goals in the three wins, one draw and the single defeat.

Bringing things bang up to date, Nick Pope has now started 57 Premier League matches for Newcastle United and conceded 54 goals.

If any Newcastle United fans don’t by now know the true value of Nick Pope, then you never will.

If indeed Nick Pope is a ‘Clown’, then I wish we had 11 ”Clowns’ playing every match for Newcastle United, as we wouldn’t go far wrong.

If we are now at a situation where Newcastle United fans are going to crucify our proven best and usually very most reliable players, when they are going through a bad patch, or even when they just make a mistake or two, then we might as well all give up.

Is it now a case of ‘We’ll support you ever more…’ until you dip below your usual very high standards?

Fulham 3 Newcastle 1 – Saturday 21 September 3pm

(Stats via BBC Sport)

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Barnes 46

Fulham:

Jimenez 5, Smith-Rowe 22, Nelson 90+2

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Newcastle 61% (60%) Fulham 39% (40%)

Total shots were Newcastle 15 (4) Fulham 22 (13)

Shots on target were Newcastle 4 (1) Fulham 11 (7)