Martins remains a work in progress

Mar 22 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

Kevin Keegan was delighted with his performance against Birmingham City on Monday but he is still bemused by Obafemi Martins’ angry reaction to his substitution. Chief sports writer Luke Edwards looks at the enigma who could save Newcastle United’s season from disaster.

BY his own admission Kevin Keegan is still working out how best to utilise Obafemi Martins’ talent in a relegation battle but he is thoroughly enjoying trying to find out.

Martins has dominated headlines this week as a result of his temper tantrum when he was taken off by his manager late in the second half of the 1-1 draw at Birmingham City, despite looking as though he was the only player who might win the game with a moment of individual brilliance.

As a result, the Nigerian has been a key figure in his manager’s thoughts this week as he pondered how to react to the striker’s show of petulance, while marvelling at what he potentially offers to his side following his eye-catching display at St Andrew’s.

It was the first time Keegan had been able to name the 23-year-old in his starting line-up and he admitted his major challenge ahead of the arrival of Fulham was how best to harness the goal threat of a rejuvenated Michael Owen, a fit-again Mark Viduka and a player, he feels, could be his joker in the pack.

“I knew a bit about Oba because I had seen him when he played in Italy but, you’re right, I did not see him properly until I had been here three-and-a-half weeks,” said Keegan, who hinted he may play the former Inter Milan prospect in the gap between midfield and attack against the Cottagers. “He gives us something else. As a manager, when you have a squad, you do not want 18 players all the same and the players who can make this squad different weren’t here. Mark Viduka was injured and Oba was away (at the African Cup of Nations) and then injured so when you start to get them all around, you think ‘right, that could work quite well’.

“Sometimes you see something in training and you think ooh, you know. I am sure it happens at other clubs. I’m sure it has happened at Liverpool this year, I don’t think Rafa (Benitez), in his wildest dreams, was going to play Steven Gerrard behind one front man at home.” Keegan’s decision to select a three-man strike-force in a relegation showdown was a trademark attacking move and, despite a dreadful first-half performance, it was a brave decision which reaped its reward against Blues.

“If we had lost, it would have been foolish and if we had won it would have been very brave. Because we drew, it was okay,” reflected a manager still in search of his first win since returning to St James’s Park. “As a manager you do not make decisions on what others think. You have got your players, you have your box of toys to play with, if you like. You can play in lots of different ways and on that day, that is what we decided and I think it was the right decision backed up by a good second half.

“I can see why people say that the team had the Keegan mark, as it were. We’ve now got to the point where I have a good hang on everyone at the club. When I first came in, there were four not here away on African Nations duty, there were a couple of players out with injuries, stuff like that. It was a team sent out to do a job, but it had a goal threat to it and I think that is what people mean. The team I put out at Liverpool, although it was there to do a job, I never felt it had a goal threat against them. We had reasons for doing that but I just made up my mind that the next team I sent out would have both the ability to score goals and the ability to hold on to something because you have to have that.”

Nevertheless, although happy with the way his three strikers began to interact on Monday night, he warned Martins the amateur dramatics will not deter him from making the same call again if the circumstances dictated it. He said: “Like a lot of people I could not understand why Oba was so upset (about the substitution) but I just laugh it off because you have to. I joked with him the next day, I heard that Robbie Keane had been fined two weeks’ wages for doing the same thing at Tottenham. I don’t know if he understood me properly, but I think he did.

“You know, it did not bother me, to be honest. It bothers other people. With Oba, I could not quite understand it but I was not going to let it spoil the night. I think he felt he could damage Birmingham and maybe get the winner. Yeah, that is what I would put it down to. He was not out of order for what he did. It’s just that, at the end of the day, if the manager fetches you off, he ain’t going to change his mind by your reaction or anything.

“Maybe he is fortunate with me in that I do not think anything big about it. I just laughed it off at the time and just sort of joked with him since then, but it won’t stop me fetching him off again if I think it is right.”