Given ruled out for qualifier against San Marino
It was reported last weekend that goalkeeper Given, who suffered a ruptured bowel in the Magpies’ game at West Ham a month ago, could be fit in time for the clash at Lansdowne Road on November 15.
But Roeder yesterday revealed Given is still ‘fully four weeks away’ from a return to first-team action.
“Shay has been back in light training now for seven or ten days,” said Roeder. “He’s gradually stepping his training up, but we expect it to be fully four weeks away before he can be ready to come back into first-team action.”
Roeder, meanwhile, is urging his players to take their anger from Sunday’s collapse against Bolton into tonight’s testing UEFA Cup clash with Fenerbahce.
The capitulation which handed Sam Allardyce’s men all three points left the Magpies facing a tide of criticism as their difficult start to the season continued. However, Roeder revealed the hurt is no more intense than inside the dressing room at St James’ Park, and he wants the players to use that emotion as motivation for the visit of the Turkish side.
Roeder said: “Every day on the training ground I see a lot of character. We have good, strong characters who do not like to lose and get extremely disappointed when they lose.
“At this moment, we have a squad of players who are very angry. The only way they can turn that anger into some sort of pleasure would be to get the victory tomorrow night.”
The Newcastle defence have had to bear the brunt of the criticism after Sunday’s match. They allowed El-Hadji Diouf room to cancel out Shola Ameobi’s first-half penalty and then to go in front. But with few men to choose from at the back, and injuries limiting his options, Roeder may have to place his trust in the men who stood duty on Sunday.
Roeder said: “Trust is a very important quality in life. If you lose trust in people, it makes things much more difficult. I am working with a small squad of defenders. Most of those defenders, if not all of them, played last year from February onwards when I was the manager and we had some very, very good performances from them.
“That has slipped of late, they are the first to admit that themselves.”
Like Newcastle, Fenerbahce squandered what should have been a match-winning lead at the weekend. After leading 2-0 at Ankaraspor courtesy of goals from Alex de Souza and Diego Lugano, they conceded twice in the final 10 minutes.
However, Fenerbahce have a good European pedigree and boast two Champions League victories over Manchester United in their time, although the second in 2004-05 came against an understrength side with United already qualified from the group. Tuncay Sanli, who scored a hat-trick that night, is included in Brazilian legend Zico’s squad.
The game will see Newcastle’s Turkish midfielder Emre come up against former club Galatasaray’s arch rivals, and he knows Fenerbahce will provide a real threat to hopes of launching the group campaign with a win.
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