Kinnear may have to ‘blood’ Xisco
Oct 4 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
JOE Kinnear admits that he may have to blood Newcastle’s Spanish Under-21 international Xisco, signed as “one for the future”, earlier than he would have liked.
The striker was one of two players signed from Deportivo La Coruña on transfer deadline day to strengthen a threadbare squad but other than scoring a debut goal in the defeat against Hull he is yet to make much of an impact for United.
Indeed, his form is yet to get anywhere close to matching the controversial nature of his arrival – he was one of the two players brought in above Kevin Keegan’s head in a move that ultimately led to his resignation – and Kinnear admits that his forward is still learning the English game.
With Newcastle missing an arsenal of attacking talent through injury, however, the interim boss knows that he will have to utilise Xisco while he is still finding his feet. The priority, Kinnear believes, is making him concentrate more of his efforts on the penalty box rather than prowling the perimeter of the area.
“Xisco has not found his form just yet, he probably needs a bit more first team experience. I think, to be honest, he was bought as one for the future,” he said.
“In an ideal world you’d probably ease him into the team but because of our situation, with the injuries and everything, we’re really going to have him involved pretty heavily while I’m at the club.
“He’s a good player and I’m sure he’s got a great future at Newcastle – it’s a great opportunity for him.”
The language barrier has not helped Xisco or fellow new boy Fabricio Coloccini settle in, and Kinnear has admitted that making his point to a dressing room full of so many foreign players is a new experience.
He has leant heavily on Jose Enrique to translate to the Spanish speakers and placed an emphasis on demonstration rather than communication on the training pitch, a trick that he hopes will have the desired effect with Newcastle’s new arrival.
Players who have served under him single out his motivational skills as the key to past successes, and again that is where Kinnear is focusing most of his energy.
“Every manager has a way of motivating a player, telling them to do this or do that,” he said. “I’ve told Xisco ‘you’re not making the runs, you’re not getting to the near post – Damien Duff is putting all these crosses in and you’ve not been on the end of one of them’.
“So I stop training and I say ‘Now, why are you there? Why aren’t you attacking that run? Why are you outside the box when you’re job is to be inside the box putting it in the net?’ You can do that with an English player immediately.”
