Eddie Howe could not disguise his disappointment at the suspension which will deprive his Newcastle side of their England goalkeeper Nick Pope when they meet Manchester United in next Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
Pope was sent off in the 22nd minute of Newcastle’s 2-0 defeat by Liverpool at St James’ Park for handling outside the area after he slipped while trying to head the ball clear under pressure from Mohamed Salah.
The red card means the former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius, whose career has been in decline since his disastrous performance in the 2018 Champions League final, is competing with Mark Gillespie to start at Wembley.
Newcastle’s second-choice keeper, Martin Dubravka, deputised for Pope here but is cup-tied after appearing for Manchester United during a loan stint at Old Trafford last autumn. Meanwhile the previous third choice, Karl Darlow, was loaned to Hull last month and cannot be recalled.
“Nick’s very disappointed, he’s been magnificent this season and he doesn’t deserve to miss next week’s game,” said Howe, who did not know if it would be possible to appeal Pope’s dismissal after watching his side lose only their second Premier League game since a defeat against Liverpool at Anfield in August. “I think it’s harsh, it was a slippy surface and the ball hit his arm; the referee could have given him a yellow card. Nick’s visibly upset. But I was really pleased with the way we responded to going down to 10 men.”
Yet as sad as Newcastle’s manager was for Pope his thoughts were dominated by the death of Christian Atsu, the club’s former winger, whose body has been found in rubble left by the Turkey-Syria earthquake. “It’s been a very difficult day for me and everyone who knew Christian,” said Howe who managed the Ghana international when he arrived at Bournemouth on loan from Chelsea. “He was an incredible player - and just an incredibly likeable lad. I’m devastated for his family.”
Thanks to first-half goals from Darwin Núñez and Cody Gakpo Liverpool are now only six points and four places behind fourth-placed Newcastle and Jürgen Klopp is cautiously optimistic about a renewed push for Champions League qualification.
“I’m so happy,” said Liverpool’s manager, whose defence, was nonetheless, troubled by the excellent Allan Saint-Maximin’s attacking advances. “We were perfect against 11 men but lost our grip against 10.
“We scored two incredible goals, top goals and it’s a massive, massive, massive win but we are not in a position where we can have a big mouth and say we are here. It’s obvious we’re in a better place than a couple of weeks ago but we have to show consistency. We will keep fighting and see what happens.”
