'Knife edge' - will Newcastle drop Pope for Ramsdale?

Nick Pope was in no man's land.

The Newcastle United number one decided to boldly rush off his line in an attempt to get to the ball out on the right-hand side at the Stade Velodrome on Tuesday.

But it backfired.

Marseille forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang got there first to leave Pope stranded on the biggest stage of all in the Champions League.

Pope, mouth agape, was left shouting after Aubameyang.

It was an image that captured Pope's helplessness as 36-year-old Aubameyang coolly swept the ball into an empty net from a long way out to level it up.

For the third away game in a row, Pope had been at fault when Newcastle were ahead. For the third away game in a row, Newcastle went on to lose.

It has led to growing calls from supporters for fellow goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to be handed his first Premier League start for the club.

And head coach Eddie Howe admitted that "all options are on the table" before Saturday's trip to Everton.

"The life of a goalkeeper is always on a knife edge," he said. "You're judged on a couple of moments and, sometimes, you get no reprieve, no one to save you the other way.

"I think Nick knows that. He's been in the game long enough. It's nothing new to him."

So could Howe make a seismic change or will he stick with his number one?

Pope's status has never truly been in doubt.

The veteran started the season as first-choice - just as he did in each of his previous three campaigns at Newcastle.

But Howe recognised the need to bring in fresh competition, even before goalkeeper Martin Dubravka's departure to Burnley was sanctioned last summer.

James Trafford had been a longstanding target, but the 23-year-old decided to rejoin former club Manchester City from Burnley instead.

And Pope previously admitted that Newcastle's very public search for a permanent goalkeeper – and the subsequent arrival of Ramsdale on loan from Southampton - drove him on to "push himself to the absolute maximum to earn the right to play for the club".

Pope certainly earned that right after starting the campaign strongly.

Such was Pope's form, the 33-year-old was recalled to the England squad for the first time in a year earlier this month - only to have to withdraw after suffering a concussion during a match against Brentford.

It was a deserved call-up.

Pope kept eight clean sheets in his opening 14 games in all competitions, and his superb 65-yard throw went viral after he set up Harvey Barnes' breakaway goal against Benfica.

But Newcastle have struggled defensively on the road in recent weeks.

Though he has not always been offered much protection by those around him, Pope has let in 10 goals in his past four away games and made different types of errors against Marseille, Brentford and West Ham when his side were in front.

West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta's shot squirmed past him at the London Stadium.

Pope was caught out at the Gtech Community Stadium a week later when he attempted to punch the ball only for Kevin Schade to equalise from Brentford defender Michael Kayode's long throw.

And then there was his rush of blood to the head in Marseille.

Ramsdale's stock has grown in the process.

Though Ramsdale conceded two goals on his one and only top-flight appearance for Newcastle, as a substitute at Brentford, the former England international previously looked assured in Carabao Cup wins against both Tottenham Hotspur and Bradford City.

He has only made a couple of starts for Newcastle in all competitions, but his displays still offered one or two hints about his and Pope's differing skillsets.

Ramsdale's passing accuracy has been, on average, 21.3% higher than Pope's this season, according to Opta, while he has made nearly twice as many successful passes (24.3) and long passes (7.46) per 90 minutes.

His ability to play out from the back quickly struck AFC Wimbledon goalkeeping coach Ashley Bayes during Ramsdale's pivotal loan spell at the club in 2019.

"He has personality, character," he said. "He's very on the front foot, works his box really well and his distribution is his biggest strength.

"He's great with it as he had to be at the different teams he's played for. He learnt a lot at Arsenal and the same sort of situation at Southampton.

"He's very driven, very motivated, and he's a different sort of goalkeeper to what Newcastle already have, which is good for the goalkeeping group there. He loves the big stage and the big games. He thrives off the pressure."

It is easy to forget that Pope has been a mainstay for so long for a reason.

He has had a higher save percentage (77.9%) per 90 minutes than Ramsdale this season and has prevented significantly more goals (3.9) albeit making a direct comparison based on such a small sample size is far from ideal.

Pope has also made almost double (1.3) the amount of keeper sweepings, which are defined by Opta as occasions where he anticipated danger and rushed off his line to try to either cut out an attacking pass in a race with the opposition player or to close down an opposition player.

One of those rushes backfired against Marseille, of course.

However, as Friday's news conference drew to a close, it felt revealing that Howe stated that Pope had a "very strong season" apart from "a couple of high-profile moments".

"There's always two sides, isn't there?" he said. "I actually think his goalkeeping has been very good. His shot-stopping has been incredible.

"He has made some great saves, and a lot of those saves are underrated and go under the radar.

"Because he delivers so many of them, it's almost expected."