Time to come out fighting – Kinnear

Jan 1 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

JOE Kinnear has called on his wounded Newcastle United side to stop feeling sorry for themselves following the mauling by Liverpool last weekend.

Kinnear – who has had Sheffield United right-back Kyle Naughton watched in recent weeks – has been forced to cancel any contact training this week as he attempts to nurse his injury-ravaged squad back to health ahead of the FA Cup trip to Hull City at the weekend.

With Nicky Butt and José Enríque new injury concerns ahead of the journey to the KC Stadium, the pair could join Obafemi Martins, Joey Barton, Mark Viduka, Habib Beye, Alan Smith and Cláudio Caçapa on the sidelines on Saturday.

But Kinnear is in no mood for melancholy as he urged his players to show the sort of fighting spirit which has already pulled them out of the bottom three this season.

“I want us to get a bit of the beast back in our performances, certainly in defence,” said Kinnear, who knows he could struggle to get the players he wants during the January transfer window because of a lack of financial backing, coupled with the reluctance of rival clubs to sell at this stage of the season.

“We've got to be strong again and show a bit of the courage and spirit that we did in the games before Christmas.

“We're missing players and it's killed us, but we've got to improve. Yes, injuries left us in tatters, but I expect a better level of performance than the one that we put on against Liverpool.”

Worryingly for United’s manager, Newcastle’s defence looked vulnerable in the air against Liverpool, a failing which Hull will also look to exploit at the weekend.

The Tigers have suffered a sharp slump in form in recent weeks, winning just one of their last 11 games, but Phil Brown’s side are particularly strong at set pieces and will look to capitalise on the

indecisiveness at the back which was so ruthlessly exposed by Liverpool.

Although the return of Sébastien Bassong from suspension will be well received, United are still in trouble in the full-back positions with centre-back Steven Taylor likely to play at right-back and left-winger Charles N’Zogbia forced to fill in in defence on the oppposite flank on Saturday.

Kinnear said: “We know at Hull it's going to be a battle again. I dearly want to stay in the Cup and all the players do too – it's a real chance for us if we can get through January still in the competition and start getting some of these players back.

“In terms of injuries we have gone backwards since I arrived here. We didn’t have any full-backs to begin with, and now we are back to that, with Habib out for two months and Enrique struggling.

“I won’t know what my team is likely to be until Friday.

“It’s tough, but it’s my job to keep them all up for it. I won't slate the players individually, but some of the decisions we made (against Liverpool) were poor decisions and we went through that after the game.

“Colly (Coloccini) wasn't happy aerially, so I switched (Steven) Taylor there, but it was just a matter of having to put a whole new back four out there.

“We'll be looking for an improvement, whichever team goes out against Hull.”

Kinnear revealed he has been so nervous about picking up more injuries this week, he has gone to extreme measures to ensure he has a 11 senior players to choose from on Saturday.

He said: “It’s been more or less a case of cancelling training and wrapping all of my players up in cotton wool. Then we will see if we can get 11 out for Hull.”

Meanwhile, Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho has been linked with a move for United’s out-of-contract captain Michael Owen.

Owen can talk to clubs about a Bosman-style free transfer from today and, while the likes of Aston Villa, Everton, Manchester City and Tottenham have shown an interest in the 29-year-old, reports in Italy indicate Inter are also keen to sign him at the end of the season.