Injuries still the Magpies’ biggest frailty

Jan 14 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

TWO weakened teams will take to the pitch at St James’s Park tonight, but only one of them by choice. Stuart Rayner looks at Newcastle’s latest injury crisis.

THE names scribbled on a piece of paper in Joe Kinnear’s hand made depressing reading for Newcastle United fans.

“Beye eight weeks, Taylor two weeks, Caçapa four weeks, Enrique two weeks, Barton two weeks, Geremi two weeks, Smith two weeks, Ameobi two weeks, Viduka two weeks, Martins three to four, maybe more.”

With young goalkeeper Tim Krul on loan at League One Carlisle United, the Magpies will have an entire team of senior players unavailable tonight. And, like most United fans, the list Kinnear was handed by the medical men had forgotten on-loan Uuguayan midfielder Ignacio González.

So, while one manager might treat the FA Cup with contempt at St James’s Park tonight, it will not be Kinnear. Phil Brown will again give a run-out to some of his fringe players. A couple of mishaps from the few Newcastle men left standing, and it could be United’s youth team against Hull’s reserves.

Brown will be playing with one up front because it fits the tactical blueprint he learned from his mentor, Sam Allardyce. Kinnear feels he has very little choice.

For a club which needs a trophy as badly as Andy Carroll needs a haircut, tossing off an FA Cup tie like an unwanted Christmas present is little short of criminal. But with United simultaneously trying to fend off an injury crisis and a relegation battle, it is not hard to imagine that the club which gives every impression of wanting to go out will go through, at the expense of the one desperate for a cup run.

“This is probably a game we could do without, even though we want to stay in the Cup,” Kinnear admits. “If I pick up two more injuries who knows what sort of side I will have for Blackburn (the Magpies’ weekend Premier League opponents)? It would be half the academy. There are some stiff games coming up and we would like to be in the safety zone when they come up.”

As understatements go, it is up there with the best. Having drawn a host of winnable home games, the next five Premier League visitors to Gallowgate are Sunderland, Everton, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. Little wonder Kinnear spent last night asking Mike Ashley, “Please, sir, can I have some more?”

“We have looked at the fixtures and if we are in the position we are in now, it will be very difficult to win those games looking at the situation now with the injuries,” he says. “If we had four or five back, at least we would have a realistic chance of getting something.”

What makes Kinnear’s plight so depressing is that it is utterly familiar. Graeme Souness, Glenn Roeder and Sam Allardyce could be forgiven for looking on with a knowing chuckle. To use Souness’ famous phrase out of context, crippling injuries appear to be “the price on the ticket” for Newcastle managers. Twenty-year-old striker Carroll makes his full home debut at the weekend and marks it with a crucial headed equaliser. So what happens? “He has a hamstring injury,” Kinnear reveals wistfully. “He has to miss out on this one.

“I thought Michael Owen and Andy Carroll had a decent partnership, although they only played two games together. We haven’t had any injuries in training. (Wigan Athletic’s Lee) Cattermole put a nasty tackle on Joey Barton and then he sorted out Habib Beye. Every game we go into there’s been nasty injuries. It’s just bad luck.

“I’m as frustrated as the 11 players that are missing. I wouldn’t even bother buying anybody if they were all fit. The squad is good enough. It’s frustrating putting a weakened team out every week. The sooner we get them fit and playing well, the better. Unfortunately some of them are going to be out for six or seven weeks.

“In the position we’re in, if you lose two or three games you can suddenly find yourself in the bottom three.”

Given the depths of misery his time on Tyneside have plumbed, perhaps the biggest surprise is that Newcastle have managed an injury crisis without Owen getting in on the action. Kinnear’s one plus is he can call on one of England’s best goal-getters to shoulder the burden alone up front.

“He’s capable of playing anywhere, he’s such a good footballer,” Kinnear says. “He’s got a good brain. We need to keep the ball on the ground. We haven’t got any other options. Simple as that. We haven’t got Viduka who can hold the ball up, we haven’t got Andy Carroll to give us aerial challenges or Shola Ameobi, who can do the same.

“I think Michael’s injury problems are behind him now. He looks sharp in training. I’m just sorry we can’t play anyone alongside him and make life easier for him.”

The luck of the Irish may have abandoned him, but at least Kinnear has something to be grateful for.