Nick Pope can possibly think himself lucky he didn’t concede a penalty as he brought down Wolves forward Raul Jiminez in the box after losing control of the ball. It could have been much worse for the Newcastle United ‘keeper.
There were a couple of hairy moments involving Nick Pope on Sunday as Wolves pressed the Newcastle defence. Maybe still hesitant about back passes following his dismissal against Liverpool, Pope struggled to clear his lines on two occasions. One was a clearance that got closed down, but the other was when Pope lost control of the ball and Jiminez latched onto it, falling over after contact by the England goalie.
Referee Andy Madley waved away the protests and VAR didn’t get involved. The replays during the game suggested that Jiminez was looking for the contact and went down easily, but a review by the Sky Sports panel at half time was more thorough and Jamie Redknapp was convinced Nick Pope had got away with one.
Jamie Redknapp was in no doubt Nick Pope was lucky
“Have Newcastle got away with one? Absolutely. Pope is incredibly lucky,” said Redknapp
“I cannot believe they’ve not sent Andy Madley to the monitor. Pope takes him out with his right shoulder – he bodychecks him.
“It’s no doubt it’s a foul. And because he’s not trying to play the ball it would be a penalty, a red card and a ban for him. That’s how important this decision was.
After this one, Newcastle may have just lost the right to complain about the next three questionable refereeing/VAR decisions to balance this one out.
It seemed strange at the time given that Jiminez wasn’t given a yellow card, which, if Madley believed there was no foul, he should have received for simulation. That suggested that VAR was looking at the incident, but they felt that it wasn’t a clear and obvious error by Madley and play went on.
Eddie Howe didn’t think it was a penalty
Pope went on to make some fantastic saves to keep Newcastle in the game during a spell where Wolves found themselves on top. The Midlands club could feel hard done by with this one for sure, but Newcastle fans won’t be complaining at all.
Speaking about the incident to Sky Sports after the game, Eddie Howe was his usual diplomatic self saying: “I didn’t think it was a penalty, you might say I’m biased but I don’t think it was.
“I think Jimenez was going down as the contact was made. That was my assessment of it.”