Bruno Guimaraes is railing against the idea that Nick Pope should become a scapegoat at Newcastle United.
Pope has been criticised at Newcastle United this season, particularly after the Champions League defeat away at Marseille.
Indeed, Pope’s mistake for Newcastle against Marseille allowed the French side back into the game and they eventually completed their comeback to inflict another away defeat on Eddie Howe’s men.
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While Pope’s mistakes are getting more frequent for Newcastle, it’s important to remember that he has saved them several times, too.
As such, Guimaraes doesn’t want supporters to blame Pope alone and brought up two other players who have had similar treatment in the past.
Bruno Guimaraes says Newcastle United fans cannot blame just Nick Pope
The Toon skipper was visibly angry after the game, but refused to blame Pope himself.
In fact, Guimaraes says he’s made those kind of mistakes before too, along with Dan Burn.
Burn was heavily criticised by supporters online following the defeat to Brentford, while he also became something of a lightning rod for criticism during the 2023-24 campaign at times.
Speaking to The Chronicle, Guimaraes said: “We know that Popey has already saved us many, many times. This happened to me, it happened to him, it already happened to Dan Burn, so we have to keep going. We cannot blame it on one player.”
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Guimaraes is right, to a certain extent.
Teams win and lose together. As the banner held at St James’ Park earlier this season in reference to Alexander Isak said, nothing is achieved alone. The reverse is also true.
While it’s natural to be annoyed at Pope in particular after such a high-profile error, the rest of the Newcastle players should have reacted better to that setback.
Howe will continue to back Pope in goal for Newcastle, such has been his importance to the cause over the past few years.
There’s certainly an argument to start Aaron Ramsdale going forward but blaming just Pope alone for Newcastle’s struggles away from home would be unwise.
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