Ally McCoist reacts to ‘nightmare’ Newcastle news about £10m star live on air

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Ally McCoist has claimed that Nick Pope’s injury against Manchester United is a complete nightmare for Newcastle United.

Pope was very unfortunate to pick up a serious shoulder injury when diving for a save and it now looks like the shot-stopper could be out for a lengthy period of time.

TalkSPORT presenter Ally McCoist claimed that this injury will be a disaster for Newcastle and Eddie Howe who have depended on Pope since his £10m arrival from Burnley last summer.

Newcastle lose another key player to injury

Pope put in his performance of the season and maybe even of his entire career against PSG in which he kept Newcastle in the game and made a couple of incredible saves from point-blank range.

The 31-year-old will be hugely disappointed to now have to spend a lengthy spell on the sidelines, especially with such a huge game against AC Milan in the Champions League coming up.

Pope joins the long list of injuries at Newcastle who now have enough unavailable players in each position to make up a pretty strong starting 11 in the Premier League.

Eddie Howe will be hoping that Sven Botman can make his return soon which would be a huge boost to the defence, but a number of players like Dan Burn, Jacob Murphy and Harvey Barnes are unlikely to be back in the team in the next couple of weeks.

On talkSPORT, McCoist said: “Knew it was a bad one. I knew it when he went down but I didn’t know it was four or five months. Nightmare.”

Time for Dubravka to step up for Newcastle

Martin Dubravka was substituted on for Newcastle as Pope’s replacement against Man United and will likely be first choice while the former Burnley man recovers from his injury.

The Slovakian look destined to leave the North East when he joined Man United on loan last summer because of a lack of playing time, but he’s now got an opportunity to show he’s worthy of a starting spot.

Newcastle are also understood to be monitoring the situation of former Man United keeper David de Gea as a potential short-term replacement, but for now Howe has faith in Dubravka to keep his place in the team.