Adam Clery Football Column. A newsletter that unpacks the absurdities and oddities of the beautiful gameThe ACFC newsletter: unpacking football’s absurditiesUnpack football’s oddities with the ACFC newsletterEddie Howe has defended Nick Pope after the goalkeeper’s rush of blood set Marseille on the road to Champions League victory over Newcastle.The Magpies were leading 1-0 at the Stade Velodrome when, just seconds after the restart, the England international raced from his line in a vain attempt to beat Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the ball and saw the 36-year-old round him before finishing from an unlikely angle.Pope was beaten by the former Arsenal frontman for a second time just four minutes late as the Ligue 1 outfit secured a 2-1 win to kickstart their campaign and deny the Magpies a fourth successive three-point haul.Asked about his keeper’s error at his post-match press conference, head coach Howe said: “It’s a concern when we concede goals regardless of who’s at fault. We have to look at everything with a balanced head.“He saved us many times. He made some really good saves against Manchester City just two days ago. That’s the life of a goalkeeper. But I’ll certainly back him.”Harvey Barnes, who scored in the sixth-minute, gave the visitors an early lead. But they missed out on further chances to increase their lead. Aubameyang made up for it after the break, having missed several first-half opportunities. “There are areas we can improve. These are the games we want to play in and test ourselves in.“The second half, I think we did not react to the goal. We did not react to the goal, we were on the back foot and the crowd came into it. Then we were not at our best.”The Magpies have only won one of their eight games away from home this season. They will travel to Everton and then to Bayer Leverkusen who had a 2-0 victory at Manchester. CityHowe said: “We need the intent to go for more goals in games. The intent was there. Maybe our press was not as intense as it has been. One-nil is a delicate scoreline and we did not defend well enough.“The result leaves us bruised, but we have great games ahead.”Aubameyang on the other hand, who scored 400 career goals at the weekend was thrilled to have added another two to his tally in a night that the Ligue 1 team needed a victory to boost their…
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2025-11-25 23:37:40
