Some Newcastle fans have been slating goalkeeper Martin Dubravka for his poor performance in their 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Monday.
This wave of criticism comes after Newcastle fan Twitter account @NUFC360 shared a post on their page slamming the team’s performance in the defeat.
This post then led to a number of Newcastle fans plating the blame of the loss at the feet of Magpies shot-stopper Dubravka.
Here’s a sample of Newcastle fans slating Dubravka for his performance at Villa Park:
We should’ve lost by far more than this today, but thankfully we have Dubravka in goal. Unacceptable performance whichever way you view it. #nufc
— NUFC 360 (@NUFC360) November 25, 2019
Yeah Thankfully we’ve got Dubravka in goal who’s cost us multiple games this Season
— Owen (@AzzaJay98) November 25, 2019
I thought Dubravka had a poor game. The defense as a while were terrible. We need to play 2 up front to give them a chance to score, if that’s Joelinton and Carrol or Gayle I dont know.
— James (@jimbob171) November 25, 2019
The 30-year-old, who is valued at £6.3 million (as per Transfermarkt), failed to keep out Conor Hourihane’s free-kick for Villa’s first goal of the game just after the 30-minute mark before Anwar El Ghazi doubled the home side’s lead under five minutes later (per BBC Sport).
He received the fourth lowest rating (6.7) of any Newcastle player on the field, so you can understand why fans weren’t too pleased with his performance.
This performance from the Slovakian did not go down well with the Newcastle fans who were eager to share their frustrations with the ‘keeper on Twitter.
Is Martin Dubravka to blame for Newcastle's defeat to Villa?
Yes
No
Thankful for Dubravka? Eh?
Badly set up wall for first goal and should be more positive for second. Needs to take charge— Rich Hegarty (@Hegster1973) November 25, 2019
Dubravka is as bad as any keeper we’ve had in a decade
— NathanMoat (@nathanmoat) November 25, 2019
Was a weird one, at fault for the goals but made good saves
— Ash Sales (@ashsales22) November 25, 2019
What do we think?
It’s easy to blame the goalkeeper for not saving both of Villa’s goals, especially seen as the first goal came from a set-piece. But the bigger problem for Newcastle comes from the crop of outfield players that played against Villa.
Newcastle currently sit in 14th place in the Premier League table, so Steve Bruce needs to change something with the team if they want to avoid a relegation battle this season.