NEWCASTLE star Nick Pope has been slammed for time-wasting during a pre-season friendly.
The Toon were in action against Brighton in New Jersey last night.
During the match, Pope came rushing out of his goal to clear the ball into touch.
With a multi-ball system being utilised, Brighton looked to take their throw-in quickly in order to catch Pope off his line.
But the wily goalkeeper put paid to that, by kicking another stray ball onto the pitch – thus making Brighton have to re-take their throw.
This enabled Pope to get safely back to his line, but Brighton fans on social media were not impressed.
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One wrote: “In a friendly? What a joke.”
A second tweeted: “Imagine wasting time in friendly.”
And a third fumed: “Pathetic in a meaningless game.”
Newcastle fans defended their stopper, with one gushing: “Best keeper in the Prem. Prove me wrong.”
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Another called him an “intelligent goalkeeper”.
And a further Toon fan swooned: “Nick Pope rattling fan bases up and down the country… and the season hasn’t even started yet! Gotta love him.”
Newcastle were criticised for their so called time-wasting antics last season.
Stats emerged in May that the ball has been in play for just 52 per cent of the Toon’s matches, the lowest number in the Premier League.
Boss Eddie Howe hit out against accusations of the dark arts last season.
In April, he said: “I think our first intention is to always play the game. We want, as I said after the game, the ball in play.
“I encourage my players all the time to get the ball back in play very quickly. We want to play at a high tempo and want to wear teams down physically. That goes against what was said about us.
“Of course, there’s been times in games where we have to manage the game. We have to use experience, we have to do whatever we can to get a positive result.
“I’m not saying we won’t do that either. Certainly that’s not our first intention.”
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Newcastle found themselves 1-0 down on Friday night courtesy of a 49th minute Danny Welbeck strike.
But a late double by youngster Elliot Anderson saw the Toon come out 2-1 winners against Brighton.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
