First-team coach Steve Harper has praised Martin Dubravka for his recent run of form, believing he deserves a ‘special mention’ after a superb spell between the sticks.
In the tweet, Harper also credits NUFC boss Steve Bruce after a week that saw Newcastle collect 7 points in 8 days and momentarily climb up to 10th in the Premier League table as a result.
Here is what Harper had to say, giving a special mention to Martin Dubravka – our unsung hero with several key saves in our last three:
Dubravka has been a revelation since his £4million move from Sparta Prague in 2018 and has been immense in all of Newcastle’s games in the past week.
He made key stops to preserve our point against City, made several outstanding saves to keep us 0-1 up against Sheffield United and made TWO crucial interventions to deny Southampton when we were struggling in the early stages. Without this class between the sticks, we do not get anything like 2 wins and a draw from our last 3.
For me, the Slovakian is the best goalkeeper we’ve had since Shay Given, and hardly a game goes by where he doesn’t pull off at least one save that makes all the difference come the full-time whistle.
During Chelsea’s game against Everton on Saturday, £70million Kepa gave the ball away cheaply before conceding when Dominic Calvert-Lewin nutmegged him to make it 3-1, and I couldn’t help think that I would much rather have Dubravka over the most expensive goalkeeper of all time.
It’s a massive positive that Dubravka has recently signed a 6-year deal at the club – he is easily one of our most important players right now.
You can see how much his presence breeds confidence into the back-line in front of him, and long may that continue!
