KK wants to give Toon Army something to shout about

Aug 3 2008 by Sunday Sun

KEVIN KEEGAN will urge his players to give the Toon Army something to cheer about in their concluding Mallorca Summer Cup game tonight at the ONO Stadium, against tournament hosts Real Mallorca. Newcastle were backed to the hilt by the travelling black and white hoardes on Friday night but disappointingly went down to a 1-0 defeat, as Maxi Nicu headed a drab game’s only goal to leave Keegan’s side facing a miracle to win the competition.

The odds are hugely against Newcastle to do it with the one point per goal and three points per win nature of the Summer Cup.

Real Mallorca’s opening 4-2 win over Hannover 96 coupled with United’s 1-0 loss to Hertha Berlin means only a low-scoring Hannover victory and a final night thrashing of the hosts would give Keegan the trophy.

Therefore, with United going into the game facing the embarrassment of finishing the game rooted to the bottom of the table, Keegan is looking for a response from his team.

He said: “I seem to repeat myself every year — but the problem at this football club has always been getting a team to match the supporters.

“It’s a massive challenge for anybody to do that and it’s my challenge to do that at the moment.

“That’s what I will try to do and I’m doing my very best to do exactly that.”

Newcastle had a light session ahead of tonight’s game at the Bilboni Stadium and they are without strikers Shola Ameobi, who pulled a hamstring on Friday night, and home-bound forwards Michael Owen, Mark Viduka and Andy Carroll.

Oba Martins is unlikely to be risked but after recovering from a knee injury, has been doing some ball work here on the island.

Keegan now only has one senior striker in shot-shy Alan Smith to choose from, and teenagers like Frank Danquah and Ryan Donaldson, but could opt to push up James Milner, Damien Duff or Jonas Gutierrez as a makeshift forward.

And while Keegan isn’t anxious over two 1-0 losses in a row against Doncaster and Hertha Berlin, he has slight concerns about United’s play in the final third.

He says: “We didn’t create enough chances on Friday.

“It’s always good to test yourself against European sides in pre-season.

“Hertha Berlin were a different type of opposition for us and that was a good test and that will be the same against Real Mallorca tonight.

“The main thing for us is to get time on the pitch and get the new players integrated and from that point of view it has been very useful.”

Yet with the club coming out here to Majorca on the back of a media storm surrounding Joey Barton’s release from prison last week, Keegan admits that the trip has proved to be a good bonding session.

He added: “Being away from home has been very good for us too.

“To come out as a group and be together like this is good.

“The morale in the squad is much better than when I first came in.

“But it can build up even more as players get into condition for the new season.

“The players were tired on Friday night because it’s been so hot over here, as you would expect at this time of year.

“With the game being later on Sunday that will help us too and the players will step their game up because it’s against the host club Real Mallorca.

“You cannot really judge anybody on pre-season results though.

“They are nice to get but results are only part of pre-season until the season starts for real.”