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Keegan convinced attack is best way to escape trouble
OLD habits die hard, and having
fielded a three-pronged strike
force in Monday night's 1-1 draw
at Birmingham, Newcastle boss
Kevin Keegan has promised that
the team that faces Fulham this
afternoon will also reflect his
deep-rooted attacking beliefs.
Faced with a crunch relegation
clash in the final two months of
the season, most managers
would reinforce the defensive
barricades and keep their risktaking
to a minimum.
Keegan, though, as his first
spell at St James' Park proved, is
not most managers. "Attack, attack,
attack" is a summation of
his preferred footballing philosophy,
and by naming Michael
Owen, Obafemi Martins and
Mark Viduka in his starting lineup
at St Andrew's five days ago,
he gave his side the best possible
opportunity of doing exactly
that.
By the time the final whistle
blew, his boldness had been rewarded.
Newcastle overcame a
desperate first-half performance
to secure a creditable point, with
all three strikers involved in
Owen's 55th-minute equaliser.
A resurgent Fulham visit Tyneside
this afternoon for the
Magpies' second relegation sixpointer
in a week, and having
watched an attacking attitude
pay dividends in the Midlands,
Keegan sees no reason to alter
his approach.
"I can see why people might
say that the team that started at
Birmingham had my stamp on
it," said the Newcastle boss, who
is still waiting for the first victory
of his second managerial spell
at the club despite nine attempts
to engineer it. "It was a team sent
out to do a job, but it also had a
goal threat to it and I think that's
what people mean when they say
that.
"The team I put out at Liverpool
(when Newcastle lost 3-0)
was also designed to do a job, but
I never felt we had a goal threat
against them.
"We had our reasons for doing
what we did, but I just made my
mind up that the next team I sent
out would have the ability to
score goals as well as the ability
to hold on to something.
"The side I sent out at Birmingham
had that. I feel happy
watching any team that gets a
grip on a game, and that's exactly
what we did in the second half.
I am tempted to go with three up
front again."
Most observers expected Keegan
to be more cavalier in the
early stages of his reign but, in
fairness to the Magpies manager,
his options in January and February
were severely restricted
through both injury and international
responsibilities.
Martins spent three weeks in
Ghana at the African Cup of Nations
- and returned with an
ankle injury at the tournament's
end - while Viduka spent two
months nursing a combination
of calf and groin problems that
rendered him unavailable.
Monday night's game represented
Keegan's first opportunity
to see the pair playing alongside
Owen, and the interplay
between the physical Viduka
and the pacy Martins was in
marked contrast to the more predictable
attacking that had characterised
Owen's previous partnership
with Alan Smith.
"When you have a squad of
players as a manager, what you
don't want is to have 18 players
who are all the same," said Keegan,
who is still without Shay
Given, Stephen Carr, James Milner
and Emre this afternoon.
"But when I first arrived at the
club, the players who could
make this squad different
weren't here.
"Mark was injured and Oba
was away. When you start to get
them in and around you, you
start to think, Right, this certain
way of playing could work
quite well'.
"Sometimes, you see something
in training and think. I
like that'.
"I knew a bit about Oba because
I had seen him play in
Italy (for Inter Milan) and he definitely
gives us something else.
And Mark was fantastic for us at
Birmingham. He gives us a fantastic
point to aim at. With players
like that in your team, you've
always got a chance."
Newcastle need more than "a
chance" at the moment, though,
they desperately need a win.
Monday's draw might have
taken Keegan's side back up to
14th place in the table, but with
testing fixtures against Tottenham,
Chelsea and Everton still
to come this season, they can ill
afford to pass up the opportunity
of three points against a Fulham
side that has gone 31 Premier
League matches without a
win.
The Cottagers' last success on
their travels came against Newcastle
in February 2007, with
Carlos Bocanegra's last-minute
winner proving crucial, but Roy
Hodgson's side have not won
away in their first 30 matches of
the current campaign, and remain
odds-on for the drop despite
last weekend's win over
Everton.
Keegan has first-hand experience
of Fulham having led the
London club to what is now the
League One title in the 1998-99
season, and while chairman Mohamed
Al Fayed is the only survivor
from his time on the banks
of the Thames, he retains an affection
for his former employers.
"I enjoyed it," he said. "The
chairman was a good man to
work for, and the club was a good
club to be at. It's a totally different
club to Newcastle, but I
ended up getting them up one division
and I was proud of that.
"I went there as chief operations
officer, but I ended up managing
them for a year before I
was sold to England. I guess I
must have done something right
for that to happen."
8:33am Saturday 22nd March 2008
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