Newcastle United dressing room admission from Bruno Guimaraes makes Nick Pope mistake look even worse

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Bruno Guimaraes was lost for words after Newcastle United clicked the self-destruct button against Marseille.

Newcastle United went into the half time interval 1-0 up at the Stade Velodrome thanks to another fine Harvey Barnes goal.

To say they were cruising would be an overstatement, but Eddie Howe’s side looked reasonably comfortable against the in-form French giants.

Still, Newcastle United lost 2-1 to Marseille in the Champions League after a four-minute brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang not long after the break.

Nick Pope was at fault for Aubameyang’s first goal and that seemed to unnerve Howe’s team, who looked in a state of disarray for most of the second half.

Most alarmingly, Guimaraes revealed it was something the players spoke about at half time.

• READ MORE: Anthony Gordon was every Newcastle United fan immediately after Nick Pope blunder vs Marseille

Bruno Guimaraes says Newcastle United dressing room talked about not letting standards slip

The Brazilian was speaking to BBC Sport Tyne & Wear reporters in the mixed zone after the game.  

Asked to explain what happened to the team so early into the second half, the Toon skipper said: “I think we cannot explain.

“Just sloppy. I don’t know what happened, we all spoke in the changing room to start the second half like we did in the first half but this didn’t happen and it cost us the game.

“We have to learn. We have to learn, you know, with the amount of games that we have.”

The fact that they had spoken about keeping the same level of intensity only minutes before Pope’s mistake makes that blunder all the more galling.

However, the way in which the team reacted to the setback wasn’t good enough either.

Newcastle simply have to be stronger and deal with adversity better.

How many points Newcastle United have lost from losing positions this season

Newcastle have now lost four games in which they’ve taken the lead this season.

That has happened in Premier League games against Arsenal, West Ham and Brentford. Indeed, nine league points have been thrown away from winning positions.

This is the first time it has happened in the Champions League this season. Still, it’s part of a worrying trend.

In all competitions this season, Newcastle have lost 12 points from winning positions. Nine of those – six in the Premier League and three in the Champions League – have come away from home in consecutive games.