Guthrie only has games in mind

Jan 13 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

NEWCASTLE United’s paper-thin squad will be put through another game tomorrow – but the more the merrier as far as midfielder Danny Guthrie is concerned.

With so few options available, manager Joe Kinnear could be forgiven for not wanting an FA Cup replay against Hull City wedged between important matches against West Ham United and Blackburn Rovers.

But, having found opportunities so scarce in previous seasons, Guthrie is not about to turn down another appearance and just hopes the squad can be reinforced to deal with them.

Nicky Butt returns from suspension to partner Guthrie in the middle of midfield in tomorrow’s cup clash, but further reinforcements look unlikely.

Shola Ameobi has an outside chance of returning from an ankle injury, though after Andy Carroll marked his first start at St James’s Park with a goal last week, a return to the starting XI would seem unlikely.

United are hoping Cláudio Caçapa, Joey Barton, Alan Smith and Obafemi Martins return before the end of the month but Mark Viduka and Habib Beye’s comebacks are probably further off.

Increasingly in recent years managers have shown a disdain for the world’s most famous cup competition by using it as an opportunity for squad rotation – as Hull boss Phil Brown did in the original game earlier this month. Kinnear does not have the resources to do so anyway, but as someone still well short of 100 senior appearances, the former Liverpool trainee will be treating it as seriously as any Premier League game.

“The FA Cup only becomes a distraction if you pick up injuries and suspensions, but I’m loving the fact I’m playing so much so I’ve don’t see it as a distraction at all,” he said. “Every game is another game and I want to play as many as I can, that was my aim at the start of the season.”

Irrespective of the manager or his training methods, United seem to have constantly had one of the division’s worst injury records in recent years. With few senior players to pick from in the

first place, the strain on the Magpies squad is unavoidable.

Guthrie is hoping to see the numbers boosted soon by good news from both the treatment room and the transfer window.

“It’s notorious here for injuries and it has been amazing how many we have picked up this season,” he acknowledged. “If we can get a few of those players back it will give us a massive lift.

“We have a good set of players, we just don’t have a very big squad and when you have as many players missing as we do, it’s hard. I expect the squad will be strengthened during the transfer window. I hope that happens, I’d welcome the competition for places.

“Whatever club you are at, you want that competition. If we can get a few new players in this month it will sharpen everybody up and that can only be a good thing.”

After a nomadic career in recent times – Guthrie has had loans at Southampton and Bolton Wanderers in the past two seasons – the stability the Telford-born midfielder has found on the field outweighs the instability off it at St James’s.

“I’m just pleased to be playing first and foremost,” he stressed. “That was why I came here, to play first-team football. A lot of things have gone on at the club and there have been good days and bad days, but we can’t do anything about what happens off the pitch. We have to improve as a group of players.

“There is no place I would rather be than playing for Newcastle. We just have to push on in the second half of the season and get up the league. We’re only a few points off relegation and we know we need to improve and do it quickly.”

STOKE bolstered their striking options with the signing last night of James Beattie from Sheffield United for a fee that could rise to £3.5m.

The 30-year-old, who has previously played in the top flight with Southampton and Everton, has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal.

Manager Tony Pulis said: “James is a player who has an absolutely phenomenal goal-scoring record, and I am delighted to have him here.”

Beattie is the second player to join Stoke, who currently sit one place and one point above the relegation zone.