Whilst many might have been waiting in anticipation for Manchester City to take on Liverpool later on this Sunday, those inside St James Park’ and watching from home were treated to a classic with Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest putting on an incredible show.
In the end, the scoreline would swing 4-3 in favour of the Magpies with a wave of late first-half goals ultimately gifting the hosts the slim Premier League win, although Nuno Espirito Santo’s determined visitors fought right until the death to try and snatch a share of the points.
Alexander Isak would of course steal the limelight again for Eddie Howe’s men with a brace in the blistering match, but whilst the attackers put in a performance to be proud of, less could be said about the defence and, in particular, the leaky showing of Nick Pope in-between the sticks.
Pope's performance in numbers vs Forest
Fresh off the back of shipping four away at Manchester City, Pope again had an afternoon to forget against Forest.
Within six minutes, the ex-Burnley goalkeeper was already fishing the ball out of the back of his busy net, with some lackadaisical play in the middle by Jacob Murphy gifting Callum Hudson-Odoi an opportunity to fizz an effort past a startled Pope.
Thankfully for the 32-year-old, the Magpies comeback that came after spared his blushes, but the shaky ‘keeper was still left rooted to his spot when Nikola Milenković prodded home the away side’s second, before then conceding again via a late Ryan Yates effort.
In total, Pope would only make a meagre two saves all contest, with a worry in the air now that the 32-year-old is declining as Howe’s first-choice ‘keeper.
He isn’t the only first-team stalwart wary of his starting spot moving forward though, with one defender putting in a valiant first-half display, only to be all at sea during that dramatic second 45 minutes.
The 6/10 Newcastle man now on borrowed time
Howe will just be glad his team managed to get over the line to pick up a victory no matter how troubling the second half proved to be, with a run of two losses now wiped away in the Premier League.
But, there will be many concerning individual displays for the 47-year-old to address away from the positive result at hand, none more so than Dan Burn’s shoddy 45 minutes.
Whilst the Magpies number 33 would have been all smiles with Pope during a breakneck first half – with Burn impressing aerially with six duels won in the air – his performance levels would soon deteriorate.
Indeed, the 32-year-old looked particularly haphazard with the ball at his feet as Forest mounted their unbelievable comeback with possession squandered a costly 12 times, with this notable drop in quality not isolated to just this breathless game at St James’ Park.
Minutes
90
90
90
90
90
Goals conceded
4
1
2
4
3
Touches
55
36
59
56
83
Pass %
81%
92%
86%
82%
85%
Clearances
7
5
6
6
8
Blocked shots
2
0
2
0
0
Interceptions
0
0
0
1
0
Tackles
1
1
1
3
2
Duels won
5/9
3/12
10/16
4/7
10/12
Looking at the table above, the towering 6 foot 7 defender has shipped a worrying 14 goals across his last five Premier League outings, with the three goals he couldn’t stop versus Forest continuing this alarming trend.
Handed a low 6/10 rating at full-time by Shields Gazette journalist Dominic Scurr – who stated that Burn was ‘guilty’ of one too many errors – it will be intriguing to see if the long-standing Magpies servant is retained for his team’s next game away at Liverpool.
Moving beyond that, however, although the experienced head is very much part of the Tyneside furniture, the peak of his playing days could be behind him.
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