Howe drops Nick Pope hint after moment of madness in Marseille

Nick Pope stole the headlines for all the wrong reasons once again last night, as his moment of madness gifted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang the opportunity to equalise just 30 seconds after the restart.

A frankly bizarre decision to leave his box only for the notoriously clinical striker to round him and shoot into an open net, and it got worse minutes later as the goalkeeper was then beaten at his near post, albeit by another superb finish.

This is the third away game in a row where a mistake from Pope has cost the team, and the third straight away game where we've collapsed after taking a 1-0 lead.

Asked about Pope's form by The Telegraph's Luke Edwards, Howe called for a "balanced head" when assessing the player himself, pointing out his big saves against Man City just a few days ago and backing the big man to bounce back.

See Howe's post-match quotes below, where the boss vowed to "back" his first-choice stopper:

“I think it's a concern when we concede goals, regardless of who's at fault. I think we have to look at everything with a balanced head.”

“He (Pope) saved us many times. He made some really good saves against Manchester City just two days ago. That's the life of a goalkeeper. But I'll certainly back him.”

Howe is not the type of manager to publicly criticise specific players, but this appeared to be another vote of confidence in Pope, leaving many wondering if he'll be selected once again at Everton this weekend.

If his errors were one-offs, we could hold our hands up, accept that's part of football and give him a pass. But now Pope has made mistakes leading to equalisers in each of our last three away games against West Ham, Brentford and Marseille, it feels like the right time to give Aaron Ramsdale his chance.

Time will tell, although I'm not convinced Pope is getting dropped anytime soon based on Howe's post-match comments.