Premier League

Newcastle United v Stoke City (3pm)

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   CRAZY MEMORIES: Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear (centre) talks on the phone during training alongside Charles N'Zogbia (left), Obafemi Martins (second right) and Habib Beye (right) at Longbenton, Newcastle.

by Martin Spinks

NEWCASTLE boss Joe Kinnear is cheekily claiming the copyright on Rory Delap's long throws after insisting they were invented a generation ago when he was managing Vinnie Jones at Wimbledon.

Kinnear was supervising the Crazy Gang back in their heyday when Jones, the craziest of the lot, began hurling balls goalwards from the touchline.

"It's not anything that's new, I more or less invented it with Vinnie Jones," said Kinnear.

"Vinnie could chuck it to the near post, so it's not just happened overnight.

"You have to be brave enough to compete for it and we've got the players to do that.

"It's a little bit of a lottery, and you just hope you win the first header, as the second can go anywhere.

"It's something we have to deal with ourselves and we'll have to make sure we don't give away throws in that area."

But Kinnear is hoping his players, despite no victory in the last month, will force the pace sufficiently to render Delap's throws an infrequent sideshow at St James' Park tomorrow.

"Hopefully, we won't have to worry about it as we'll have them on the back foot," added Kinnear.

"If we they do, then we've got three or four players capable of dealing with aerial stuff.

"We won't worry too much about it."

Kinnear had Stoke watched on Tuesday in their late, late Carling Cup defeat at home to Derby at the Britannia when up to five possible starters tomorrow were either missing or on the bench anyway.

"They'll be a difficult team to play against," warned Kinnear, as he echoed the sentiments of just about every opposing Premier League manager on the eve of playing Stoke.

"They've got their own style of play and they've done very well.

"The front two (Sidibe and Fuller) are a handful. They're both over 6ft 2in and have scored eight or nine goals between them, but we've got to concentrate on our own game."

Newcastle could show one change in defence if Kinnear decides to recall Steven Taylor's greater height to cater for Stoke's towering presence at set pieces.

But he appeared to be veering against the recall of the England under-21 defender when disclosing: "Obviously after two clean sheets in a row there has to be a great chance that it will be the same again at the back for us.

"We do have Steven Taylor fit again and I have spoken to him about the situation and he fully understands.

"One thing we could do is to play Fabricio Coloccini as a holding midfielder to accommodate Tayls, but it would be wrong to do that.

"As far as Seba Bassong is concerned, in my opinion he was probably our best player in our last two games with Chelsea and Middlesbrough."

Another option, however, could be to accommodate Taylor in central defence by switching Frenchman Sebastien Bassong to full-back for the demoted Jose Enrique.

Mark Viduka is back on the bench after a lengthy injury absence, but tomorrow's fixture probably comes too early for him to pressure either Michael Owen or Obafemi Martins for a place in the starting 11.

Viduka admits Newcastle's form has been difficult for their fans.

"We all know that as players and we're desperate to give them a win against Stoke," he said.

"At home, especially, we have to win games like this and tomorrow is massive for us.

"You talk about 'must-win' games, and we had a few at the end of last season, but already this one against Stoke is like that."

Newcastle start the day in 17th spot, four places and three points behind Stoke, after three draws on the spin at home to Wigan and then at Chelsea and Middlesbrough.