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There are loud calls for Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe to drop Nick Pope and replace him with Aaron Ramsdale.
The Magpies’ number one has come under fire for his mistake in the 2-1 defeat away to Marseille in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Harvey Barnes gave Newcastle the lead after six minutes before Pope gifted the French club an equaliser less than a minute into the second-half.
Pope came charging off his line, allowing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to shoot into an empty net. The former Arsenal man then give the home side the lead moments later.
Eddie Howe responds to calls to drop Nick Pope
Responding to supporters’ calls to drop Pope for Ramsdale, Howe replied: Howe replied: “Yeah, well of course I respect the supporters' opinions but ultimately I'm paid to do the job and alone I have to wrestle with my thoughts always and it's never a clear it's never a sort of 100% to zero decision.
“There's always counter thoughts and processes I go through and it's never easy because you're dealing with good players on many different levels in many different positions.
“So while I acknowledge the supporters' opinion potentially, I don't really know because I don't tend to go there because then my decision making will be swayed and I think I have to stay true to myself.”
Howe added: “I pick a team based on who I think gives us the best chance to win the game. That's it. There's no favourites. There's no loyalty as such. It's about trying to pick the team that I think can win and gives us the best chance of doing that and if that's another player then it will be another player.”
Eddie Howe drops Nick Pope hint - ‘rotating the goalkeeper position isn't something I want to do’
Ramsdale joined the Magpies on loan from Southampton in the summer, which includes a £20million option to buy. He has been restricted to just two starts, both of which have come in the Carabao Cup against Bradford City and Tottenham Hotspur.
Howe said: “Well, all options, of course, are on the table for me. I need to, as I always do with the team selection, think long and hard about who I pick, and I try and do that on merit. As I say, I get the luxury of seeing the players train every day, goalkeepers included, and yes, I'll make my call.
“I'd say you don't necessarily, naturally or in my mind, think about rotating the goalkeeper. I think it's a position of consistency and ideally you want to give the defenders who are playing in front of that goalkeeper the continuity and the knowledge and understanding of how that goalkeeper plays.
“Changing a goalkeeper is possible, of course, but it's a big call to make because depending on the style of goalkeeper, a lot changes and defenders in front get used to a style. That's something for me to consider. Certainly rotating the goalkeeper position isn't something I want to do.
“I'd say team selection is always up there for me in terms of the hardest decisions you have to make because it's always about the players you're leaving out, really. That's always the most difficult part because you're having to leave out a big body of players, especially when you have such a big squad.
“Every week or every two or three days at the moment, I'm disappointing people and players that I love. So, whatever you have to do, I think from my perspective, how I look at it is I'll try to do it on merit. So, I'll try, through the training, through the games that we have, try and make really honest and fair decisions.
“That's all I can do. As long as I can look at myself and go, I think that's the right call and that's all it is to try and win the next game, then I'm happy with it.”
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