Howe says Newcastle’s Pope does not deserve to miss Wembley after red card

Eddie Howe could not disguise his disappointment at the suspension which will deprive his Newcastle side of their England goalkeeper Nick Pope when they meet Manchester United in next Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

Pope was sent off in the 22nd minute of Newcastle’s 2-0 defeat by Liverpool at St James’ Park for handling outside the area after he slipped while trying to head the ball clear under pressure from Mohamed Salah.

The red card means the former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius, whose career has been in decline since his disastrous performance in the 2018 Champions League final, is competing with Mark Gillespie to start at Wembley.

Newcastle’s second-choice keeper, Martin Dubravka, deputised for Pope here but is cup-tied after appearing for Manchester United during a loan stint at Old Trafford last autumn. Meanwhile the previous third choice, Karl Darlow, was loaned to Hull last month and cannot be recalled.

“Nick’s very disappointed, he’s been magnificent this season and he doesn’t deserve to miss next week’s game,” said Howe, who did not know if it would be possible to appeal Pope’s dismissal after watching his side lose only their second Premier League game since a defeat against Liverpool at Anfield in August. “I think it’s harsh, it was a slippy surface and the ball hit his arm; the referee could have given him a yellow card. Nick’s visibly upset. But I was really pleased with the way we responded to going down to 10 men.”

Yet as sad as Newcastle’s manager was for Pope his thoughts were dominated by the death of Christian Atsu, the club’s former winger, whose body has been found in rubble left by the Turkey-Syria earthquake. “It’s been a very difficult day for me and everyone who knew Christian,”