While you’ve got your voting fingers clicking/tapping on Dan Burn for Player Of The Month, make sure you head on over to the Premier League website to vote for Nick Pope for Save Of The Month.
Pope has been nominated for the Castrol Save Of The Month award for the second time this season. This time for his superb reflex save of Jean-Phillipe Mateta’s shot for Crystal Palace on 21st January.
A stunning stop. ⛔️@Popey1992's save at Selhurst Park is nominated for the Premier League Save of the Month award! pic.twitter.com/MTGdKDSqOM
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) January 26, 2023
Considering Pope had had nothing much to do for 70 minutes, the fact that he was still so alert that he was able to tip that shot over the bar, especially given how hard the shot was hit and how close to him it was, was just a mark of how excellent Nick Pope is.
I said yesterday that Pope is unequivocally the best goalkeeper in the Premier League and that sentiment was backed up by Southampton’s Nathan Jones following the Magpies’ win in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final on Monday when he said: “I think Nick Pope is the best goalkeeper in the league,
“And I say ‘goalkeeper’ when I say that. He might not be the most fashionable one, in terms of what he can do with his feet, but for me, he’s the best actual goalkeeper in the league.
“In terms of goalkeeping – catching it, keeping the ball out of the net, making big saves – then there isn’t a better goalkeeper than Nick Pope. A lot of keepers now are judged on how brilliant they are with their feet and how well they can play. So yes, with that, there are certain ones that are better than Nick Pope. But in terms of being a goalkeeper, and what I think is required in being a top goalkeeper, then he is categorically the best in the Premier League.” (via The Northern Echo)
With ten consecutive clean sheets to his name, it’s almost a shock that he’s not nominated for Player Of The Month too, but given that for many of those clean sheets he’s barely had a save to make, it does make sense that a Newcastle defender should be on the shortlist.