‘In his defence’… Given completely disagrees with Osman about what £4m Newcastle player did vs Everton

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Martin Dubravka will have hoped for a better return to the Newcastle United starting XI.

As expected, the Slovakian replaced Nick Pope in Eddie Howe’s starting lineup against Everton, with the 31-year-old now out of action for up to five months with a shoulder injury.

It means that Dubravka has got a chance to play regular football for the first time since the 2021/22 season, but his return to the side did not go to plan.

Newcastle were beaten 3-0 at Goodison Park, with Everton scoring three late goals to move out of the relegation zone and hand the Magpies another poor result away from home.

Dwight McNeil opened the scoring, with his powerful effort flying past the £4million goalkeeper to give Everton the lead.

Replays showed it was quite close to the 34-year-old, but it did take a slight deflection off of Fabian Schar. And that deflection is the reason why former Toon goalkeeper Shay Given believes that Dubravka is blameless.

Shay Given does not think Martin Dubravka is to blame for Everton’s first goal

Speaking on Amazon Prime, former Everton midfielder Leon Osman debated whether Dubravka was at fault for McNeil’s goal. However, Given did not agree.

“I thought maybe the goalkeeper would have been able to do better,” he said.

“I didn’t think it went right in the top corner. I thought he was quite low. We were right behind it from our position.

“Maybe it was the power that beat him.”

Given replied: “I think in his defence, that nick makes a massive difference. It takes a nick off Schar’s leg as he’s tried to block it. As you say, the power just flew past Dubravka. I don’t think you can question Martin on that one.”

Newcastle goalkeeper was not the one who made a mistake

Considering the fact that Given is a former goalkeeper, he is much more qualified to speak about the goal.

In real time, it looked like an unstoppable strike from McNeil. There was so much power in the shot that Dubravka could do nothing about it. The real errors were Kieran Trippier giving the ball away and the centre-backs allowing McNeil to drive towards goal.

Given is adamant that Dubravka did nothing wrong, but it is far from an ideal start to his run in the starting XI.

Conceding three goals was massively disappointing, and Dubravka and co will need to produce a much better performance when they take on Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.