Newcastle United Football Club News

• Nickname:Magpies
• Founded:1881
• Manager:Alan Pardew

• Ground:St James' Park
• Capacity:52,193

Roeder backs Ramage

17 Mar 2006 - 09:05:11

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Newcastle United welcome a suddenly goal-filled Liverpool to St James' Park as caretaker boss Glenn Roeder looks to get back on track after suffering his first defeat in charge of the Magpies.

A Wayne Rooney-inspired Manchester United eased to a 2-0 win at Old Trafford last Sunday, with Roeder's side being lucky to avoid a heavier loss.

However, that should not detract from the progress made under Roeder, who has brought some new-found optimism to the Magpies dressing room since the departure of Graeme Souness.

Youngster Peter Ramage was at fault for the Red Devils' opening goal last weekend, but Roeder is confident that his man will recover quickly.

He said: "Peter has surprised a lot of people with how well he has done in the first team and I am really pleased with him. He's a great lad to work with and, because of his attitude, he will only get better."

Roeder still has Michael Owen (foot), Stephen Carr (hernia) and Steven Taylor (shoulder) sidelined by injury, but Kieron Dyer returned from his latest hamstring problem to feature as a substitute at Old Trafford.

Liverpool had begun to stutter in recent weeks, with their strikers all short of goals, but the midweek 5-1 thumping of Fulham saw Peter Crouch and Fernando Morientes back on the scoresheet, while Robbie Fowler scored for the first time since his return to the Reds.

A relieved Rafael Benitez said after that win: "They were all waiting to score and it was important for their confidence that they did.

"Everybody will want to talk about Robbie's first goal since he returned here, but I was equally pleased with the goals from the other strikers too."

The victory was the Reds' first in four games in all competitions and leaves Benitez with a headache over who to select in attack, with Fowler and Djibril Cisse having started against the Cottagers.

On Boxing Day the Reds secured a 2-0 win at Anfield thanks to a Steven Gerrard strike and a Shay Given own goal, with the visitors also having Lee Bowyer sent off just past the hour mark.