Roeder shuns rumour mill

Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder will press ahead with his plans to strengthen his depleted squad in January amid a glut of transfer speculation.

The Magpies have been linked with, among others, a loan move for Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko, Charlton’s Darren Bent and Preston forward David Nugent in recent days.

Roeder will send his side out against Reading at St James’ Park tonight needing three points to lift them out of the Barclays Premiership relegation zone.

And, although is working around the clock to get his men, he is giving nothing away.

He said: “We have targeted players. Now, going into December, we are trying to find out about their availability.

“I saw there was a lot of speculation at the weekend and I would have said in every case, the speculation was wrong.

“I expect to see another set of names come up this weekend, and I guess they will probably be wrong as well.”

Roeder’s need for reinforcements is acute as he attempts to contend with an injury crisis which has claimed both midfielder Kieron Dyer and defender Titus Bramble, both possibly for several games.

Indeed, his squad has been reduced to just 11 senior players against a Reading side which has climbed into the top six with a run of four successive league victories.

However, the Magpies are unbeaten themselves in six games in all competitions and would happily settle for a repeat of both the performance and the result in their last Premiership outing, a 1-0 win over Portsmouth.

So fine are the margins that Roeder knows the kind of decision which cost £10million striker Obafemi Martins his first league goal at St James’ Park against Pompey could prove crucial.

The Nigerian’s first-half strike was wrongly chalked off for offside and, although Antoine Sibierski eventually claimed the points, Roeder is calling on referees’ assistants to help out their senior colleagues.

He said: “Oba should have had a Premiership goal against Portsmouth. Unfortunately, the referee’s assistant got that badly wrong when he ruled him offside after he had scored a perfectly good goal.

“Just of late we have seen the importance of referees’ assistants getting the major decisions right, because there have been a few they have got wrong.

“We always put the focus of attention on referees – some managers have made a career out of criticising referees.

“But the referees’ assistants have also got a major job to do to get decisions right and we have seen, just of late, them get them wrong.

“There was Martins’ ‘goal’ against Portsmouth and another one that comes to mind is Sheffield United’s winner at Watford, which was clearly a couple of yards offside.

“These are major decisions. I know the game has got quicker and quicker, but they have just got to get them right more often.”