WITH Nick Pope suspended following his instinctive handball yesterday evening, Newcastle United’s goalkeeping situation has been the subject of fevered attention as thoughts turn to next weekend’s Carabao Cup final.

Having to hand Loris Karius a Magpies debut on the biggest stage of all is hardly ideal, but exclusively focusing on the goalkeeping position means missing another pertinent point that was raised, but perhaps somewhat overlooked, last night. It won’t matter who is playing between the sticks unless Newcastle reverse some of the downward trends that have become increasingly apparent in recent weeks.

Given the extent to which they have overachieved so far this season, levelling any kind of criticism at Eddie Howe’s side can feel somewhat unfair. Yet the reality is that the Magpies are heading to Wembley on the back of their poorest run of the campaign, and with their form having dipped since they were flying high prior to the World Cup break.

Sunday’s defeat means they have won just one of their last seven Premier League matches, and while it had been their attack that was stuttering for most of January, with just three goals in six league matches prior to the meeting with Liverpool, it was their defence that malfunctioned as Jurgen Klopp’s side condemned them to a second league defeat of the campaign.

Pope’s error of judgement was the most obvious mistake, but even before the goalkeeper left his 18-yard box to reduce his side to ten men, Newcastle’s backline had committed a series of uncharacteristically sloppy errors that left them trailing by two goals.

Kieran Trippier had arguably his worst game in a black-and-a-white shirt as he played both Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo onside, enabling Liverpool to score twice in the opening 17 minutes, and Dan Burn was equally vulnerable to a long ball into the channels on the opposite side of the Magpies’ back four. Howe and his coaching staff have a week in which to tighten things up, but when he watches clips of Newcastle’s defending ahead of Sunday’s final, you would imagine Marcus Rashford will be rubbing his hands at the prospect of darting into the holes that were alarmingly apparent against Liverpool.

“Liverpool have that pace and quality, they have the quality to find the runs, but we would back ourselves on another day to have defended those situations a lot better,” admitted Howe. “We didn’t, and we paid the price for that.

“We’ll review that and analyse it. Teams with the quality of Liverpool have the ability to unpick you with one moment. Our challenge is to keep our concentration and prevent that, and we didn’t do that well enough.”

The major positive from Sunday’s performance was the spirited manner in which Newcastle reacted to Pope’s dismissal. For the 70 minutes or so when it was 11-against-ten, the Magpies more than matched their opponents, indeed aside from the final five minutes or so when the home side’s physical exploits began to tell, it was Liverpool’s goal that was being threatened more than Newcastle’s.

Allan Saint-Maximin and Burn both struck the crossbar, with Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson also going close in the second half, and Howe will have to think carefully about the make-up of his midfield and attack for Sunday’s final.

With Bruno Guimaraes available again after suspension, and Joe Willock expected to be passed fit to start, Howe could revert to the line-up that seen Newcastle through most of the spring, with Joelinton restored to a wide-attacking position on the left.

That would mean Saint-Maximin dropping to the bench though, and having watched the Frenchman produce his most effective performance for quite some time at the weekend, Howe might well conclude that he needs his dribbling talents to unlock the Manchester United defence at Wembley.

“I thought Maxi started the game really well on the left and gave them problems,” said Howe. 

“He gave them transitional problems, and then when he moved centrally, into a different role, his influence on the game was still there.

“He formed a really good partnership with Alex (Isak) – I thought they looked really good together with their dribbling ability and their pace.

"We were a constant threat in the game, and I was really pleased with the team and how they responded.”