Eddie Howe explains Newcastle United change that left key man 'disappointed' after Nottingham Forest win
Eddie Howe admitted Nick Pope would be ‘disappointed’ to concede three goals on his return to the Newcastle United starting line-up against Nottingham Forest.
Pope was caught out early on by a Callum Hudson-Odoi strike from distance before Newcastle turned things around in the first half to lead 4-1 at the break. But a further two goals from Nikola Milenkovic and Ryan Yates saw Forest make the scoreline more respectable as the match ended 4-3.
Howe made three changes to his side for the match with Lewis Miley, Tino Livramento and Pope coming in for Sandro Tonali, Kieran Trippier and Martin Dubravka.
After signing a new contract at Newcastle during the week, Dubravka dropped out of the side for the first time in the Premier League since the start of December.
Explaining the call, Newcastle head coach Howe explained: “I understand why the goalkeepers are highlighted, because there's only one.
“But it's always with a view to trying to pick a team to win a football match. That's what I did today. I value both goalkeepers that have played this year, Martin and Nick.
“Nick's got his strengths. Martin's got his strengths. I thought Nick distributed the ball actually really well. He was a part of two goals today.
“[Pope] helps us with set plays and the physical threat, which we didn't do well enough with our outfield players. But he'd be disappointed to concede three goals for sure.”
The win saw Newcastle move up to fifth in the Premier League table, three points behind Nottingham Forest in third with 12 league games left to play. Next up for The Magpies is league leaders and fellow Carabao Cup finalists Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday (8:15pm kick-off).
Newcastle haven’t won away at Anfield in the league since 1994 or beaten Liverpool in any competition since 2015. The previous meeting between the sides saw a 3-3 draw at St James’ Park back in December.
Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Fabian Schar scored for Newcastle while Mohamed Salah scored twice for Liverpool after an initial Curtis Jones equaliser. The sides will face each other in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, March 16 (4:30pm kick-off).