Kinnear - Duff the man for Mags

Newcastle interim boss believes winger can be key player

Last updated: 29th September 2008

Kinnear - Duff the man for Mags

Duff: Kinnear praise

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

Joe Kinnear has backed Damien Duff to help lift Newcastle out of the Premier League doldrums.

Interim manager Kinnear watched from the stands at St James' Park on Saturday as the Magpies suffered their fifth successive defeat, going down 2-1 to Blackburn Rovers.

The former Wimbledon, Luton and Nottingham Forest boss has been brought in by owner Mike Ashley on a short-term contract as he looks to sell the crisis-ridden North East outfit.

And having witnessed his first 90 minutes of his new charges in action, Kinnear has already identified fellow Dubliner Duff as a key man.

Ability

He said: "I thought Damien Duff was superb and got in some fantastic crosses. I said at half-time: 'Your outlet's Damien Duff - you need to give him the ball early'.

"He's got the ability to run at people, and he can pick out a pass as well. We don't want to be passing it to him when there's people marking him, but when the full-backs are dropping off.

"We want him to beat people, and have people on the end of his crosses.

"We had a half-chance with Geremi, and the crowd was buzzing. It was almost like the shackles were off.

"Duff tortured them down the left-hand side, and with 15-20 minutes left we should have gambled a bit more and overloaded the penalty box."

Honour

Newcastle were turgid in the first half against Rovers, falling 2-0 behind and failing to muster a shot on goal worthy of the name.

But following Kinnear's half-time input - he is now halfway through a two-game touchline ban from his time with Forest - the Magpies improved but could not restore parity.

He added: "I said to the players at half-time the supporters deserved more, and that it should be a privilege and an honour to pull on a Newcastle shirt.

"I was pleased with the second-half performance. We didn't take our chances, but the effort was there. If we'd had a bit more luck, it might have been different."