Newcastle United goalkeeper needed who can use his feet? Require more than that… | OneFootball

The Newcastle United goalkeeper debate is raging once again.

In truth, it has never gone away.

This despite Nick Pope keeping four clean sheets in the opening five Premier League matches.

On Sunday, petrol was added to the flames.

For many Newcastle United fans this was a typical Nick Pope performance.

Great saves, not so great playing the ball with his feet.

It isn’t a case of Nick Pope getting caught in possession with the ball, or indeed playing short passes that don’t reach the intended target. Those things very rarely happen.

Instead, Sunday and other matches where the opposition are prepared to press high up the pitch and exert pressure on the Newcastle United goalkeeper and his defence, it is instead a case of Nick Pope regularly hitting the ball long. This on most occasions means United losing possession, either the ball going directly out of play or Arsenal winning the ball when the ball lands.

So if Aaron Ramsdale had been the Newcastle United goalkeeper on Sunday, would we automatically have seen NUFC repeatedly playing it out from the back successfully, rather than hitting it long and repeatedly losing possession? I’m not convinced.

From what I have seen in the past, Ramsdale is better with his feet than Pope. We haven’t really seen that at Newcastle United yet, no real evidence. I have seen Newcastle fans point to the Bradford match as ‘proof’ but seen as the League One side never ever pressured Aaron Ramsdale high up the pitch, we can only assume this will be the case based on Ramsdale’s previous and the fact that it isn’t Pope’s strength.

However, I think the whole playing it out from the back thing, requires a lot more than this. Simply playing Aaron Ramsdale instead, wouldn’t have made a huge difference, in my opinion.

The thing is, if you are going to time after time play it around your backline and gradually work it forward, you can’t afford to have any weak links at all in the chain.

This is why when the likes of Arsenal and Man City are looking for central defenders, ability on the ball is as important as their defensive ability. The best teams almost always control the possession and so having defenders comfortable on the ball is essential, so that includes full-backs as well.

In the case of Newcastle United, when it comes to the very best ability on the ball at the back, that means having a back four of Trippier, Schar, Botman and Hall. All of them really good footballers, especially when it comes to confidence and ability on the ball, prepared to take passes in tight situations and keep hold, only passing when the right thing to do.

I think Malick Thiaw will be able to be added to this group in time, he needs to be given time to bed in though, before we have big expectations on the ball playing side of things.

However, clearly this kind of intense under pressure passing around at the back isn’t a Dan Burn strength. Nor would I say it is for Tino Livramento (everything crossed that his injury isn’t serious). I think he is a great player but he has other great strengths, especially his pace and athleticism, rather than the kind of ability on the ball that Trippier and Hall have.

So on Sunday against Arsenal, even if you had Aaron Ramsdale in goal, United would have struggled to pass it around at the back under real pressure, with Dan Burn a weak link in that chain and to an extent, Tino Livramento as well.

It all comes down to making the best use overall of the players you have available.

Maybe at some point in the near future we will see Ramsdale, Trippier, Schar, Botman and Hall line up in the same team against a quality opposition who will press high.