We were shocking, we were so sloppy on the ball - captain Bruno

BRUNO Guimaraes has accused his teammates of “sleeping” at the start of the second half - and wants people to lay off Nick Pope after his Velodrome clanger.

- By LEE RYDER Chief Newcastle writer

Bruno came out in support of Pope in the aftermath of Marseille and admits he has made mistakes of the same magnitude like any other player during his career.

As Newcastle aim to put this defeat firmly behind them and focus on Everton, the consolation for the Magpies is that their Champions League form and last 16 place is still possible to recover.

Bruno said: “We know that Popey has already saved us many, many times. This happened to me, it happened to him, it already happened to Dan Burn, so we have to keep going. We cannot blame it on one player.