A lot has changed at Newcastle United in the last 12 months, in particular, but this club still has the capacity to throw up some truly staggering moments. For all the wrong reasons. Take Newcastle's 2-0 defeat against Liverpool at St James' Park on Saturday evening, which ended the Magpies' 17-game unbeaten run in the Premier League.
If Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo firing Liverpool in front was not already bad enough for the hosts early on, goalkeeper Nick Pope was then sent off midway through the first half for inexplicably handling the ball outside his area. Pope will now miss Sunday's Carabao Cup final against Manchester United as a result.
Yet the bad news does not stop there for Eddie Howe. The Newcastle head coach will be unable to call upon number two Martin Dubravka because the Slovakia international is cup-tied after playing for finalists Manchester United earlier in the competition while Karl Darlow, the next in line, won't be able to be recalled from his loan spell at Hull City. That means that Loris Karius looks set to make his first competitive start in two years in the Magpies' biggest game in decades. It feels like the most Newcastle United thing ever.
