Eddie Howe has been urged to make Aaron Ramsdale Newcastle’s undisputed No.1 goalkeeper at Nick Pope’s expense.
Ramsdale, who has spent the season on loan at St James’ Park from Arsenal, was recalled for the midweek 2-1 victory over Manchester United.
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The 27-year-old put in an assured display to stake his claim as Newcastle’s first-choice goalkeeper.
And with his future at Arsenal unclear, Ramsdale is hoping his performances can earn him a permanent move this summer.
His return came after Magpies’ boss Howe dropped regular starter Pope to the bench following last weekend’s error-laden display in the 3-2 defeat to Everton.
Newcastle were closing in on the signing of James Trafford last summer before the shot-stopper eventually agreed a move back to Manchester City.
But with both Pope and Ramsdale vying for top spot, Clinton Forde, a panellist of this week’s episode of Inside The Toon, believes Howe’s choice is a simple one.
“I’ve got to give credit where it’s due to Eddie for dropping his favourite son,” Forde said.
“He’ll always play Nick Pope. Look at the amount of howlers he’s had over the years let alone this season.
An easy decision
“I do not want to see Nick Pope for the rest of this season, I’m sorry,” he added.
“I’ve seen enough of Pope to say thank you very much, thank you for your services.
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“There’s a reason we were looking at James Trafford but we’ve got Aaron Ramsdale who is more than capable of filling in.
“ We’ve seen the job he’s done against Man United. He can be the No.1 until the end of the season.”
Fellow panellist Adam Clery also heaped praise on Ramsdale for his performance against the Red Devils.
“I think the game really suited Aaron Ramsdale,” he said.
“Man United are not a team that lump high balls onto the goalkeeper and put you under constant pressure.
“They didn’t really close him down so he had time on the ball which is very good when he gets it.
“A lot of the shots are what Nick Pope weirdly seems to struggle with where he’s got a long time to think about how he’s going to deal with it.
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“I thought he (Ramsdale) was excellent on the ball especially when we went down to ten men.
“The ability to go back to him and then not worry about ‘is he going to look after that, is he going to rush his kick?’
“Very rarely did we lose the ball as a result of going back to Ramsdale whereas when we give it back to Pope the objective is just don’t make a mistake here.
“Put it where you’ve got to put it, maybe keep it in play here but it’s not accurate and it doesn’t relieve pressure.
“Ramsdale is brilliant at that and when they finally did come onto him he would then play over the top of that and we’d get moving up the pitch.
“Having a goalkeeper that is as comfortable on the ball, if not more so than the lads in the backline, that basically gives you another player entirely when you’ve got the ball.”
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Keeping options open
Unlike Forde, Clery still believes Pope has a part to play this season and says that there are matches that suit one goalkeeper more than the other.
“In the same way you have games where you’ll see Pope kicking the ball into touch you think, ‘I really wish we’d gone with Ramsdale today’, there’s going to be some games where Ramsdale is having balls rained down on top of him and you’ll be sitting there thinking ‘I really wish we’d gone with Nick Pope.’
“There’s no perfect scenario out of the options we’ve got.”
