Newcastle United still have the stingiest defence in the the Premier League this season despite starting to leak the odd goal but Sven Botman remains focused on ensuring Nick Pope is awarded the Golden Glove come May.
With Sven Botman and Fabian Schar having established a solid defensive partnership, flanked by Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier, Nick Pope has found himself with very little to do in so many games this season.
However there is a bit of a cause for concern as the formerly water-tight defence has started to spring a leak recently, but that’s not worrying ‘Outstanding‘ defender, Botman who told NUFC TV: “I don’t think a lot went wrong. Before we had a lot of clean sheets now we have a lot of games with one goal against us. It’s not a big difference.
Sven Botman isn’t making excuses for Newcastle conceding goals
“It’s coming to the end of the season and we get a little bit tired. It’s not an excuse or anything but it’s a hard season and we still play every game against top attackers, so yeah it’s really hard to get a clean sheet always in the Premier League but we try our best.
“I think we have a good record and we hope to get Popey the golden glove at the end of the season.”
What I love here is that it’s not about a personal accolade for Botman, he wants to help Nick Pope pick up the Golden Glove award. He didn’t need to mention that in the interview as it’s a goalkeeping award, but the fact that he voiced it shows how much this team are fighting for each other.
Newcastle find themselves amongst some excellent company
While Newcastle have started to leak the odd goal It’s certainly nothing to get too worried about as long as we still manage to pick up points. Our defence is still one of the best in Europe with the Magpies in some esteemed company in the top five meanest defences.
Manchester City are the Premier League‘s next meanest defence having let in 28 goals this season and with so few games remaining, Newcastle are still looking good for finishing top of that particular chart.
At the end of the day, as nice as it would be to say we had the meanest defence in the league when the season ends, qualifying for the Champions League would be the much bigger prize and if we concede a few more goals on the way to making that a reality, I can completely live with that.
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