Competition: UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round
Kickoff: Thursday 24th August @ 7.45pm (Channel Five)
Venue: St. James’ Park, Newcastle
Referee: Thomas Einwaller (Austria)

From the excitement of the first day of the Premiership season it’s back down to Earth with a bang as we face another underwhelming European tie against relatively poor opposition. FK Ventspils will be coming to St. James’ looking to cause a huge upset and it is up to the bare bones of our squad prevent this from happening. Without a recognised striker until Obafemi Martins completes his protracted move from Inter Milan, Newcastle will have to look to unusual sources for goals as we bid to qualify for the UEFA Cup proper later tonight.

Can you feel the buzz around the city!? FK Ventspils are in town for another mammoth European night at Gallowgate… or not. If you’re like me, then you will probably be struggling to find the motivation to pay fifteen squids to watch a sub-standard European outfit “grace” our hallowed turf, but then you might be the sort that would say that’s what we go and watch at every United home game in Europe…

Whatever the case, though, tonight has been deemed “Sir Bobby Night” by the folks here at Newcastle-Online as we try and drum-up support for our former manager after his operation yesterday afternoon. It’s hard to look back on Bobby’s reign here without a wry smile as images of the 3-1 at Highbury, the 3-2 in Rotterdam and the PSV win dance through my mind and I’m not sure if we will ever again have the pleasure of having such a grand old gentlemen lead our charges into battle. Bobby’s one in a million and he, more than any, deserved success at this football club.

Like so many before him, though, success he did not achieve and since we’ve witnessed the appalling reign of Graeme “Clueless” Souness - we’re now onto Glenn “Birdman” Roeder… and I have to stay he’s made a fantastic start. With a decimated squad and barely any striking options since Roeder took over we have looked light-years better than what we did under the Scotsman. Although it will take an almighty amount to restore the aforementioned heady heights of the Robson reign a resounding win against Ventspils tonight would be another step on that path.

The financial importance of UEFA Cup football to this club cannot be underestimated, but the burdens that the extra games place on our squad could see us struggling in the league as we did two and three seasons ago respectively - although Bobby’s fifth-place finish allied with a semi-final run in the UEFA Cup looks a lot better now than it did at the time. Fickle fans, eh?

Unless extra recruitments are brought in before the transfer window we could find the UEFA being more of a burden than a boon, but it is a winnable competition (and you don’t get many of those these days as a Newcastle fan) and so we must take the chance with no hesitation. We did a professional job in Norway against Lillestrom, but we struggled against them in front of our home crowd - it is essential that we don’t struggle against Ventspils tonight.

Team News

Newcastle United

Probable Squad: Steve Harper, Tim Krul, Stephen Carr, Peter Ramage, Steven Taylor, Craig Moore, Titus Bramble, Celestine Babayaro, Paul Huntington, Nolberto Solano, James Milner, Scott Parker, Belozoglu Emre, Nicky Butt, Damien Duff, Charles N’Zogbia, Matthew Pattison, Alan O’Brien and Albert Luque.

Injuries: As well as regular absentees Kieron Dyer (hamstring) and Michael Owen (ACL), Shay Given (back) and Shola Ameobi (hip/hamstring) have been added to the injury list after the battle with Wigan on Saturday afternoon. Belozoglu Emre, Celestine Babayaro, Craig Moore, Nicky Butt and Stephen Carr also picked up knocks in the match but are expected to feature.

Suspensions: There are no suspensions, but Scott Parker still has one yellow card to his name from the Lillestrom tie and Craig Moore and Nicky Butt picked up bookings in Latvia two weeks ago.

FK Ventspils

Probable Squad: Vanins, Davidovs, Kacanovs, Ndeki, Gorkss, Bicka, Soleicuks, Pokarynin, Vukovic, Dubensky, Kosmacovs, Sokolskis, Zangareeb, Butriks, Zizilevs, Rimkus, Stukalinas, Slesarchuk and Kolefnicenko.

Injuries: Ventspils again have a fully-fit squad, Slesarchuk has shaken-off the knock he picked up against us two weeks ago in Latvia.

Suspensions: There are no suspensions, but Ndeki and Gorkss are on yellow cards from the Intertoto Cup.

Our Approach

Glenn Roeder has already stated that he is setting his side up for a positive, attacking performance tonight and that’s exactly what the doctor ordered. Despite Ameobi’s injury and Martins not quite being our player yet, we should still have enough firepower to see-off these Latvian underdogs whether he goes with Luque or Milner (or both) as our spearhead. The Spaniard desperately needs more games to impress and Milner should already be getting games ahead of Solano, in my opinion, so I would like to see both deployed up front, but I cannot see it happening.

Whatever players the Gaffer picks and whatever way we set out our stall we need to get at Ventspils from the opening bell… St. James’ will be by far the biggest stadium they’ve ever played in and we might even see a fairly good crowd tonight and so they can’t help but be overawed by the occasion. Lillestrom were allowed to settle into the game when they arrived from Norway and they made us pay with some incisive counter-attacking football. Ventspils don’t have anyone with the pace of Misfud or the power of Ocean, mind, and so should not represent as much of a threat.

With the counter-attack possibility somewhat nullified we should hopefully see a far more free-flowing performance than we have of late. With Solano’s lack of pace being evident more than ever in the 4-5-1 formation and with Duff still not quite being fully-fit we have lacked a spark in the engine room. Parker has toiled inexhaustibly and Emre has prodded and probed, but it is in the likes of Charles N’Zogbia and James Milner where most of our electricity has stemmed from so far this season - it would be criminal not to utilise them, if not tonight then at Aston Villa on Sunday.

I’d like to see Roeder mix up the team selection a little bit and give some fringe players a chance to impress, it’s early days in the season and already our senior players have played many more games than much of their Premier League counterparts. What better chance than tonight to give them something of a break? With an immensely important away fixture to deal with on Sunday the gaffer is probably intelligent enough to know that some rotation is inevitable, but the lull that follows our Villa Park excursion may prevent him from making significant change.

Whatever the team, though, our approach is simple: attack, attack, attack!

Key Players

Newcastle: Steve Harper - Harper’s first starting appearance in almost a year is a very important one for him. With Shay struggling with a back injury, Steve will stand between the posts for the first time since we beat Sporting Lisbon 1-0 at St. James’ in 2005. Ventspils are far-from a great team, but it is inevitable that Harper will have something to do in this game - with a clean-sheet being so vital to our chances of progression and with this being a rare start for our backup goalkeeper he could well find himself as the key to our UEFA Cup qualification.

Ventspils: Jean-Paul Ndeki - Perhaps the most friendly footballer ever seen on national television, Ndeki proved himself to be a solid centre-half in Riga a fortnight ago. A huge figure with an exceptional leap and good leadership qualities, Ventspils will be heavily-reliant on their Cameroonian defender to help them keep an essential clean-sheet at Gallowgate. If Ndeki is as easy-going as he was in Latvia, he’s sure to become a brief cult figure at St. James’, but it is imperative that he gives our strikers a rough ride if Ventspils are to have any chance of progression into the UEFA Cup proper.

Potential Selection

Steve Harper
Stephen Carr
Steven Taylor
Titus Bramble
Celestine Babayaro
James Milner
Scott Parker
Belozoglu Emre
Charles N’Zogbia
Damien Duff
Albert Luque

Pre-Match Comments: Glenn Roeder

Complacency

“We mustn’t fall into that trap. We got the perfect European result, 0-1, away from home. To have the away goal, clean sheet - it’s only half-time.”

Approach

“We need to put on an attacking performance - we are not cut out for sitting back and sitting on a lead. I think that’s negative football anyway.

“I’m sure Ventspils will have their spells in the game where they put us under pressure, because they know now they’ve got to come and get an away goal. My idea is the best form of defence is attack, but to attack sensibly.

Away Goals

“I don’t consider that, I expect our defenders and defensive cover from midfield to be up to the job and to keep a clean-sheet.

“It is vital that we keep a clean-sheet, concentrate at the back and let the boys in the top half of the pitch go and get another goal.

Selection

“I don’t particularly want to come public on the possibilities of who’s starting and who’s not.

“I am prepared to say there’s every chance that Steve Harper will get his first start of the season because Shay’s back is not perfect. The muscle injury he picked-up in the Ventspils game has not completely cleared-up.

“There’s every chance that Steve Harper will get a game and I have massive confidence in him.”

Pre-Match Comments: Roman Grigorchuk

There was nothing in the media… again.

The Verdict

Ventspils are not a great team, but they are well-organised. Despite our multiple injury problems and the complete lack of a natural forward, we should win this game comfortably with a professional performance from the lads. If Roeder does give some fringe players a chance to impress then I would be far more confident of safe passage into the UEFA Cup proper, but even if the regular eleven are selected then you would expect nothing less than a comfortable victory.

From what we saw in Latvia it doesn’t look as though our opponents have too much in their locker from an attacking perspective and so I’m backing the team to pull out another clean-sheet as we win 3-0, hopefully with another goal for Parker, a first for Damien Duff and perhaps one for Albert Luque - should he feature. I wouldn’t bet against another slog though, with a narrow score-line, but I’m remaining optimistic and hoping that the lads put on a show for their adoring public, Wigan was a good win and it’s essential that we keep the momentum going on the road to Villa.

HOWAY THE LADS! …AND HOWAY BOBBY ROBSON!