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Mark Schwarzer says £10m Newcastle player was completely out of character last weekend
Mark Schwarzer believes that Newcastle United goalkeeper Nick Pope’s performance against Brighton & Hove Albion was completely out of character.
Schwarzer on the Optus Sport Football Podcast after the latest weekend of action.
It was a third defeat on the bounce for Eddie Howe’s side heading into the international break.
Brighton simply blew Newcastle away, inspired by an unstoppable Evan Ferguson.
The teenager scored his first Premier League hat-trick and took advantage of some poor performances from those in Newcastle Green.
One such player who would have expected a lot better from himself was Nick Pope.
The goalkeeper won’t want to see Brighton’s first goal back any time soon.
Schwarzer has said that Pope’s latest performance for Newcastle wasn’t what was normally expected.
He wondered if recent speculation in the transfer window about another goalkeeper arriving might have been playing on his mind.
Either way, the England international will want to forget all about it and concentrate on the international break.
Schwarzer questions latest Pope performance for Newcastle
Asked about the 31-year-old, : “Absolutely, maybe the talk of Hugo Lloris potentially coming to Newcastle maybe that sort of was in his head a little bit.
“Yeah, it was uncharacteristic of [Nick] Pope to have a performance like that.
“Certainly, with what we’ve seen of him.”
Evan Ferguson showed his poacher instincts when he put Brighton ahead at the weekend.
A long-range effort should have been comfortably gathered by Pope, but instead, the ball bounced off his chest into the six-yard box.
Ferguson was the fastest to react and slotted the ball past Pope to give the home side the ball.
His brilliant finish from 25 yards out for his second goal would have frustrated Pope given he was beaten by the placement rather than the power.
The Irishman finished off his hat-trick with a heavily deflected strike in front of the travelling away fans.
Pope will agree with Schwarzer that his latest Newcastle wasn’t quite up to scratch.
The pressure is on Howe and his team to hit the ground running after the international break and get their season back on track.