Nick Pope’s shoulder injury in December caused Newcastle United supporters to debate the need for extra January reinforcements and a short-term fix in between the sticks. Yet with one third of the January transfer window already behind us, there has been a noticeable quieting in regards to Martin Dubravka’s place in the first-team.
The Slovakian stopper was drafted in in Pope’s absence but struggled as Newcastle’s form fell off a cliff amidst a hectic schedule. Dubravka shipped three goals at Everton, four at Tottenham, two at Milan, one at Chelsea, one at Luton, three against Nottingham Forest and another four at Anfield.
However, despite the scoreline, the goalkeeper impressed with his Liverpool display as he kept the score down while Liverpool set a new Premier League record for ‘expected goals’. Following his Merseyside performance up in the Wear-Tyne derby, Dubravka kept a clean sheet with some solid second-half stops.
With a tricky outing against Manchester City this weekend, an away side drubbing at St James’ Park would likely pile pressure back on Dubravka and Eddie Howe in regards to finding cover for Pope. The Newcastle boss has always backed the former Manchester United loanee to perform when given the opportunity.
“We really believe in Martin and I’ve always had that high opinion of him,” Howe said in the aftermath of Pope’s injury. “Yes, we brought in Nick – we wanted to build competition for places, we wanted to build a squad that we felt could really carry us to great success – but Martin is a high-class goalkeeper.
“He’s a brilliant shot-stopper himself, he’s very good with his feet and his distribution, so no hesitation about bringing Martin into the team and I hope he does really well.”
