Dúbravka again Newcastle’s number one? Pope misses, fans demand change

When the Czechs shone, the Slovak shone too. That’s how you could sum up Martin Dúbravka’s time in a Newcastle jersey. Now the form of Vladimir Coufal and Tomáš Souček is back and the Slovakian is also on the rise at national team level. He’s challenging for a place in the Magpies line-up!

Slovakian goalkeepers seem to have been cursed in recent years. Since Marek Rodak’s promotion to the Premier League with Fulham in the summer of 2022, not only has he not been catching, but Martin Dúbravka has been filling the number two position at Newcastle.

Indeed, the Magpies have brought in England international Nick Pope as part of a squad reshuffle. He immediately went into the starting lineup, and it must be said that given his performance he was deservedly the number one.

Now, however, the situation has long been different. Newcastle’s start to the season has not gone well, and Pope has played a part in that. From 2 April to 2 September he kept a clean sheet in only one of 15 competitive games. Yet in the winter the Magpies had the best defence in the league.

Although the performance and results of the whole team improved in October, the goalkeeper issue is very much in the minds of Magpies fans. And it has been fuelled by events in the national break, not least because Pope didn’t make the England squad at all this time.

The main reason is the two great performances of Martin Dúbravka in the Slovakia jersey. Ironically, he was the star in the 2:3 loss to Portugal, against whom he held the half-time score to an acceptable 0:2 anyway.

Even after the change of sides, he continued his concert, and with a bit of luck, the Slovaks could have taken a point from Porto thanks to him. He didn’t have as much to do in Luxembourg, but he definitely helped to get the key three points for the 1:0 win.

The fans are demanding a change of the Magpies’ goalkeepers, especially the Czechoslovak fanbase is logically very active in this respect. We will find out who will be trusted in this weekend’s game against Crystal Palace.

Source: Newcastle United