Aaron Ramsdale please | OneFootball

I don’t think Nick Pope is very good and I haven’t done for quite some time.

A keeper should be able to do the basics.

To me that means catching the ball from crosses, saving shots and being able to get the ball forward to at least an area where team mates are.

Nick Pope can do one of those three.

He isn’t a footballer. He can’t kick the ball and has absolutely no technical ability whatsoever with the ball at his feet. So our full-backs and wingers can get as high and wide as they want but his pass is going into row Z.

That is a huge constraint when you consider how quick our wingers are. Put yourself in our team and imagine shouting for the ball from the keeper only to have it sail miles over your head or not even beat the first man like that 95th minute free-kick against Marseille last night.

So can he catch the ball? Can he take the sting out of the game, especially away from home when we are under more pressure? Absolutely not.

He has cost us three goals with his inability to catch the ball. Punch and a miss v Arsenal, punch instead of an easy catch v West Ham and a flap v Brentford. Imagine being a defender in our team and seeing him do that.

In the 1970s Peter Shilton was ahead of Ray Clemence for England as both made the saves but Shilton held onto the ball.

Well he blocks shots. Often with his feet or just standing in the way and letting the ball hit him. Imagine playing a game of rebound with your mates. Exciting isn’t it where the ball keeps coming back for you to have another shot until you score. It would be awful if the keeper just held onto the ball and wouldn’t let you have another shot.

Which brings us to Aaron Ramsdale. An international keeper who can do all of the above and yet he’s on the bench. Why?