A BULLISH Glenn Roeder has ordered "more of the same" from his Newcastle players ahead of this evening's crucial UEFA Cup clash in Holland.

And he has laughed off suggestions that his opposite number, Louis van Gaal, is winning a mental battle between the two bosses.

While Newcastle's two-goal win in the opening leg makes them firm favourites to progress to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals for the third time in four years, van Gaal has claimed that AZ Alkmaar's two away goals have tilted the tie in the Dutch side's favour.

With the Magpies facing a dilemma over whether to stick or twist in the impressive DSB Stadion, van Gaal, a former manager of both Ajax and Barcelona, has predicted that his players will profit from a lack of clarity in their opponents' tactical approach.

Roeder refused to enter a slanging match when he addressed the Dutch media yesterday, but the Magpies manager was quick to dismiss any talk of mixed messages emanating from the Newcastle camp.

While both Scott Parker and Nicky Butt will be instructed to sit tight in the early stages of this evening's game, Damien Duff and Kieron Dyer will be given free rein to attack and, with Obafemi Martins' pace having terrorised the Alkmaar defence on Tyneside, Newcastle's attackers will be free to run riot for the second European game in a row.

"There are no secrets and I'm not interested in any of this rubbish about mind games because it's total nonsense," said Roeder, who is looking to become the first visiting manager to win a European game in Alkmaar in almost 30 years of continental competition.

"The fact that we're away from home will make no difference whatsoever. We will attack the game the same as we did last Thursday because it makes sense for us to play that way. It worked last week and we need to try to make it work in the away leg now.

"It will be a case of keeping a good team shape and producing some controlled attacking. We want to be playing in their half, but we don't need central midfield players breaking forward at every opportunity.

"We have enough attacking threat in terms of the front two and the two wide players to go and have a real go at Alkmaar."

Nevertheless, much of the pre-match focus has inevitably centred on a Newcastle defence that has proved as unpredictable as ever this season. A record of five clean sheets from 29 Premiership matches hardly makes for pleasant reading but, in Europe, the Magpies had conceded just three goals in ten matches before last week's excitement.

A shut-out this evening will guarantee Newcastle's progress to the last eight, but Roeder remains wary of events in the previous round, when Alkmaar were trailing Fenerbahce by two goals with less than half-an-hour to go, only for strikes from Maarten Martens and Barry Opdam to keep them in the competition.

United will be seeking to avoid a similar comeback this evening, with Roeder claiming that the defensive work must start in the Alkmaar half of the pitch.

"It's not just about the lads at the back and what they're doing," he said. "It's about making sure that we defend from the front to start with because we want to contain them in their own half.

"We're not going to be negative and drop away because that will bring them on to us. One of the features of the game last week was that we went out to stop their passing and movement in their own half. I don't see that will be any different at all. We want to make them play long, rather than short."

Interestingly, Alkmaar's players are thinking of going down that route anyway. While the Dutch side's precise but low-tempo passing game might be ideally suited to the Eredivisie, it was utterly eclipsed by the pace and directness of Newcastle's attacking seven days ago.

Alkmaar had conceded four goals by half-time and appeared unable to deal with a side that was unwilling to stand back and admire their intricate midfield patterns.

A more direct second-half performance helped to redress some of the balance and midfielder Demy de Zeeuw claims his team-mates have learned from the mistakes they made in the first leg.

"It was a clash of cultures and we were found wanting," he admitted. "Newcastle played direct football and we played the Dutch way, passing the ball around in a totally different style.

"We have to play a different game to the one we are used to, but if we score early we will definitely have a chance. If we don't, we could have big problems."

Newcastle hardly have major concerns, but Stephen Carr is expected to miss out with a calf strain. Steven Taylor trained alone yesterday evening and while the centre-half should shrug off a hamstring problem, Craig Moore is in the squad to provide extra cover.