Ben Foster says ‘absolutely gutted’ Newcastle player made a major mistake against Chelsea

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Newcastle United did not even come close to stopping Cole Palmer on Sunday.

Ahead of the game, Eddie Howe expressed his admiration for Palmer, and the Chelsea superstar once again lived up to the hype.

He was the best player on the pitch at Stamford Bridge, as Newcastle lost 2-1 to Chelsea.

Palmer’s incredible pass was pivotal in Chelsea’s opener, while he scored the winner in the 47th minute. The England international found the net after Alexander Isak gave the ball away, with Newcastle conceding a very cheap goal.

Ben Foster criticises Newcastle United player

It was the worst way imaginable to start the second half, and pundit Ben Foster has stated that Nick Pope will have been ‘gutted’ about the goal he conceded to Palmer.

Foster addressed Palmer’s goal on The Football Fill-In on his YouTube channel, admitting that Pope should have done a lot better.

“Obviously Isak’s coming in with the block at the same time,” he said.

“Nick Pope, I think, reckons Cole Palmer is going to put it across him down to his left-hand side. He’s smashed it into that bottom right near post.

“Nick Pope will be absolutely gutted. He will be absolutely gutted. I know there’s that old saying ‘don’t get beaten at your near post’, but he shouldn’t have gotten beaten at his near post. It’s as simple as that.”

Nick Pope was not the only Newcastle player to blame

Pope did not cover himself in glory. As Foster says, he should not be getting beaten at his near post.

It was really disappointing from the £10million man, who was unable to bail out his Newcastle United teammates after an extremely sloppy start to the second half.

While it was poor goalkeeping from Pope, he was not the only Toon player culpable for the Chelsea winner.

The first error came from Alexander Isak, who cheaply gave away possession near the halfway line. Newcastle’s most expensive signing ever did not protect the ball, and it resulted in Chelsea hitting the Magpies on the break.

There was then so much space for Palmer to exploit, which was a consistent theme at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.

Then before Pope can be criticised, Fabian Schar has to be questioned for not closing Palmer down and giving him so much space to shoot. The Swiss centre-back endured a tough 90 minutes in West London, having mistimed a sliding tackle on Pedro Neto that allowed Chelsea to open the scoring.

It was a catalogue of errors, even before Pope’s mistake.