Nick Pope certainly won't forget this weekend in a hurry. Fresh from unwittingly becoming a social media sensation on Friday, after Newcastle United supporters hijacked a poll by Burger King on Twitter, the goalkeeper's phone blew up once again a day later after he helped his side earn a point in a 0-0 draw at Brighton.
Those remarkable second-half saves to keep out Adam Lallana and Solly March hinted at why Newcastle signed Pope from Burnley in the first place. Yes, Newcastle already had a proven Premier League number one in Martin Dubravka, but it is not an exaggeration to say that without Pope, the visitors would have lost on Saturday. That is unlikely to be the last time that statement is uttered this season.
Given some of the prices Newcastle have been quoted this summer, the £10m the Magpies spent on Pope already looks like a bargain. Newcastle certainly needed the England international at the Amex on an afternoon where Eddie Howe's side were 'very pleased' to escape with a point.
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Newcastle have played better under Howe - much better - but the black-and-whites still managed to eke out a goalless draw to make it four points from a possible six. To put that haul into context, following the opening two fixtures of last season, leaky Newcastle had nothing on the board. In fact, it took Newcastle nine matches to even accumulate four points.
Newcastle rode their luck against Brighton - there were the aforementioned saves from Pope, goalline clearances from Kieran Trippier and Fabian Schar, and a shocking miss from Pascal Gross - but, crucially, the visitors still managed to keep a clean sheet when they once would have crumbled under that pressure. Howe has repeatedly used the word 'ugly' in the past week when it comes to doing whatever it takes to pick up points and Newcastle can show that side of their game when required. As Brighton centre-back Adam Webster put it: "They're a real tough team to play against when maybe they didn't have that before he was manager."
Webster has seen Newcastle put in some passive displays at the Amex over the years, but that was not the case on Saturday. A fired up Joelinton even squared up to Solly March at one point after the Brighton wing-back, ambitiously, attempted to lift the Brazilian up off the floor while shielding the ball out for a goal kick.
However, for all the effort, togetherness and resilience Newcastle showed, the visitors' need for further attacking reinforcements was again evident. Brighton had seven times as many shots on target on a day where Howe's side failed to even force Robert Sanchez into a save of note.
Yes, Callum Wilson had a goal contentiously disallowed for a high boot in the 14th minute, but Newcastle struggled to trouble Brighton thereafter. Indeed, the closest the Magpies came to breaking the deadlock was when Dan Burn headed Trippier's corner over the bar midway through the second half.
On an afternoon where Allan Saint-Maximin was off the boil - the Frenchman picked up a yellow card for a woeful dive midway through the first half - and Miguel Almiron again lacked the finish to go with his tireless running after curling one effort over, Newcastle could have used another game changer in the final third. That can prove the difference in matches like this.
This was another reminder of the work Newcastle still have to do in the final two-and-a-half weeks of the window to secure such a player following a game that always felt a much greater acid test after such a comfortable opening day win against newly-promoted Nottingham Forest. Newcastle, after all, had never previously defeated Brighton at the Amex in the Premier League and Graham Potter's side, fresh from an impressive win at Manchester United, finished above the Magpies in the table last season.
In the words of Callum Wilson, Newcastle's most dominant performance in years against Forest meant 'nothing' if his side did not build on it at Brighton. Those thoughts were certainly shared by Howe, whose attention turned to the trip to the Amex immediately after that opening day win.
"As soon as that final whistle went, my mind moved onto the next game," he told reporters ahead of the trip to the Amex. "One win is great and to get that early is a huge boost for everybody, but we need to back it up. We want to back it up. We want to be consistent in our results and our performances and this will certainly test us."
This was also a chance for Newcastle to show how far they had come since the corresponding fixture back in November, when the away end chanted: 'We're f----- s--!' at one point. As much as there have been so many changes in personnel since then - Eddie Howe was not even in charge at the time while sporting director Dan Ashworth was working for Brighton back then - there has been a mentality shift, too. As Fabian Schar put it ahead of the game: "We go to Brighton to get a win there".
There were just three survivors in the starting line-up from that night - Miguel Almiron, Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin - as Howe made one enforced change from the side that defeated Forest last week. With Targett ruled out with a dead leg, Dan Burn moved across to left-back and Sven Botman came in for his full debut in the heart of the defence.
Energetic Brighton sought to put the new-look backline under pressure from the off, winning three corners in the space of just two minutes, but it was the visitors who appeared to have taken the lead before the quarter hour mark when Wilson had the ball in the back of the net following a smart finish inside the area. However, the striker was penalised for a high foot in the build-up as he battled the towering Lewis Dunk for the ball and the goal was chalked off.
As frustrated as Wilson was, the number nine will have felt there were still going to be one or two further opportunities later in the game. However, it was Brighton who turned the screw as Newcastle struggled to make headway in the final third.
Pope kept out Leandro Trossard's deflected effort midway through the first half and, then, in the 33rd minute, Trippier cleared March's effort off the line. Pope was called into action once more right before half-time to deny Lallana again.
If Pope had been busy in the first half, well, the goalkeeper had even more to do after the break. There were 49 minutes on the clock when Pope made a stunning save to keep out Lallana's header from March's cross with his left hand.
Sanchez, in contrast, was untroubled in the Brighton goal as Burn headed the ball harmlessly over the bar midway through the second half. Given that lack of threat from Newcastle, it was not long before Pope was called into action once again. This time, the Newcastle number one somehow denied Solly March from close range in the 73rd minute.
Brighton continued to push and Schar cleared Joel Veltman's shot off the line late on before Gross fired wide from point-blank range following substitute Kaoru Mitoma's smart cutback as Newcastle held on. Just.
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