Newcastle ‘creators of their own downfall’ against Arsenal as ‘greedy’ player makes ‘really bad mistake’
Jamie Redknapp has criticised Nick Pope, “who’d been brilliant all game” before costing Newcastle United in stoppage time against Arsenal.
Pope made some top-class saves in Newcastle’s dramatic 2-1 home defeat to the Gunners on Sunday, but was at fault for turning the ball over before conceding a 96th-minute goal to Gabriel Magalhaes.
With the score at 1-1, Pope collected a cross and attempted to play through Anthony Elanga with an ambitious kick, but the punt was inaccurate and put Arsenal back on the attack.
The visitors quickly won a corner, from which they scored, and won the game.
Conceding possession was one thing, but the fact that Pope got nowhere near Martin Odegaard’s cross to Gabriel made matters worse for the goalkeeper.
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As expected, Pope was criticised in Sky Sports‘ post-match analysis, with Jamie Redknapp and Les Ferdinand on punditry duty.
The former said: “I think Newcastle are the creators of their own downfall, because their game management now, you’ve got 1-1, you know that that point is in your hands, and we both went, when Nick Pope gets his ball, ‘Go down, just buy yourself a few seconds.’
“Instead, he’s trying to play Elanga. You’re under pressure, you’re tired, you’re chasing a few shadows right now, the ascendancy is with Arsenal. It’s a really bad mistake from Nick Pope, who’d been brilliant all game.
“Then they get caught. [Jamaal] Lascelles puts it out for a corner. Now it’s all on, because Arsenal are one of the best at set pieces.”
Ferdinand added: “When he picks the ball up here, what I don’t understand is Elanga, he’s going up against three. It’s not like he’s one-on-one with someone.”
Redknapp replied: “Exactly. And then the delivery, there’s a great header by Gabriel.”
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And Ferdinand then analysed Pope’s inability to deal with the corner, claiming that the Newcastle shot-stopper was “in no man’s land”.
“Pope gets caught in no man’s land,” he said. “Saliba is standing in front of him. He can’t get around him. He goes to try and get it. No chance.
“We’ve seen Arsenal do this time and time again. We’ve seen this guy, Gabriel, do it time and time again, gets into that position. Goalkeeper’s in no man’s land and it’s an open goal for him.”
Redknapp then went on to say Pope made an error trying to claim the ball from the corner and wishes he had remained “calm” late on in the game.
He said: “Saliba does so well. He does enough, makes it difficult for him.
“I think what Nick Pope is trying to do, he’s trying to rectify the mistake that he’d made earlier; all he has to do is just calm down.”
It’s the second time this season Newcastle have lost at home to a top team courtesy of a late winner after Liverpool dealt a hammer-blow on matchday two, and Redknapp compared Arsenal chasing a winner to the Reds chasing a winner, and branded Pope “a little bit greedy”.
“It was obviously a different, different type of goal, because when Liverpool score with [Rio] Ngumoha, they were chasing a win. They had 10 men at the time, a point would have been a great result, and they just tried. I think sometimes it’s enthusiasm.
“You’ve got to credit them to a certain extent, but in that moment, Nick Pope has to just take his time, take the sting out of the game, and realise a point is still a great result against a really good Arsenal side.
“But they get a little bit greedy.”
