‘I don’t think’… Phil Thompson now says £4m Newcastle player is simply not doing enough

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Newcastle United continue to badly miss Nick Pope, much to the disappointment of Phil Thompson.

The former Liverpool defender has been speaking about Newcastle United’s recent struggles, and believes that the absence of Nick Pope remains a major issue.

The 31-year-old England international is currently out of action due to a shoulder injury, and has been missing since the end of November. He is due to return in April, but not until the end of the month.

Until then, Martin Dubravka will be Eddie Howe’s starting stopper. The £4million man has been reliable in the past, but he is not having the desired impact during this run in the Newcastle team.

And that is a big issue for Newcastle, according to Thompson.

Phil Thompson does not think Martin Dubravka is good enough for Newcastle

Thompson has been discussing Newcastle’s struggles alongside Jeff Stelling on TalkSPORT, and pointed towards the goalkeeping situation on Tyneside right now.

“I think Nick Pope was a massive miss,” he said.

“If you look back to the time when he got injured – the number of games that I watched that he was the difference.

“Dubravka is alright, but I don’t think he makes enough saves to keep Newcastle in games.”

All Eddie Howe can do is persevere with Newcastle goalkeeper

Thompson is absolutely right about the goalkeeping situation at Newcastle. The Magpies are badly missing Pope, whose injury has coincided with the Toon defence losing their way.

They do not play the same way when Dubravka is in between the sticks, which has contributed to the Newcastle backline suddenly becoming very leaky.

As Thompson says, Dubravka just does not do enough to keep Newcastle in games like Pope used to. While he has had some incredible performances, such as the one away to Blackburn in the FA Cup, the bad outweighs the good unfortunately.

However, there is not much Newcastle can do. Eddie Howe does not have any alternatives. He isn’t going to turn to Loris Karius, after all…

Instead, Howe will be counting down the days until Pope is fit and available once again.