Obafemi jumps for joy at life with Sam at Newcastle

13 April 2012

Obafemi Martins has delivered a damning indictment of Glenn Roeder's time as Newcastle manager, insisting the club is now run far more professionally.

Martins was signed by Roeder from Inter Milan for £10million last summer and went on to score 17 goals in his debut season in England.

Scroll down to read more:

Leap of faith: Martins celebrates last Saturday

There were doubts he would stay at St James' Park this summer following the return to fitness of England striker Michael Owen and the arrivals of Alan Smith from Manchester United and Mark Viduka from Middlesbrough.

Arsene Wenger showed interest in signing the Nigeria striker but a bid from Arsenal failed to materialise. The 22-year-old responded by scoring twice in the 3-1 win at Bolton last week.

Sam Allardyce, who succeeded Roeder, has overhauled the way Newcastle's backroom staff are organised, installing a new sports science team, and Martins has been impressed.

He said: 'There's a new manager and new players and it's changed for the better.

'This season we spend a lot of time on tactics. It all seems very different. We have training and then after that, the manager takes us to one side and teaches us how to move and work tactically.

'Everyone's enjoying the new approach and looking forward to the season. Everyone wants a place in the team. Everything has changed.

'We do homework after games and it's helpful. It's something I am used to from my time at Inter Milan but it's not something we really did last season. Different managers have their own ideas.'

While Allardyce will have taken great satisfaction in the openingday victory at his former club, Bolton, Martins is not getting carried away as he prepares to face Aston Villa today.

'It's been an OK start to the season,' he said. 'I'm happy and we're happy as a team. We played very well against Bolton. I scored twice so things are looking good for me, too, but it's only the start of the season and I'm looking to score more goals and have more success.

'I'm not the manager but I do know we have some very good strikers at the club this season. There are a lot of games to play and I don't think I can play in all of them. There will be times when I come in and out of the team. I accept that.'

Martins feels at home in the North-East, living in an apartment overlooking the River Tyne, with team-mate Emre as a neighbour. He has brought his family over from Nigeria in an attempt to stem any homesickness.

'I'm very happy at Newcastle,' he said. 'I like the city and my family are settled. My brothers and sisters are here and they've been living with me since last year. That helps.

'When I first came here it was a little bit difficult. I didn't know the place and I didn't know many people. Now I have my family and new Geordie friends. Newcastle is a cool city. It's not like Milan where there is so much traffic. It's cool, not cold. But that's normal.

'For now I feel very relaxed about the new season but it won't be easy scoring more than 17 this time around. It's all about the team and I'm confident we can get to fourth, fifth or sixth in the table. We're looking at that as a target.

'I'll try to score more but there are a lot of other strikers looking to do the same. We will help each other to finish as top scorer. We don't joke about it. It's serious but it's not a competition. We're just looking to get points for the club.'

His compatriot, Middlesbrough's Aiyegbeni Yakubu, has given him the lowdown on strike partner Viduka, while Martins is also looking forward to playing more games alongside Owen this season.

Owen came through another practice game at Newcastle's training ground yesterday and expects to be on the bench today.

'I believe Michael will score a lot of goals this season,' said Martins.

'He's a very good striker. I can play together with him. I'm looking forward to that.'

Allardyce meanwhile has sought to keep a lid on expectations following last week's victory at the Reebok Stadium.

'There is a buzz around the place but it is too much,' he said.

' Expectation grows. Last Saturday was a great result but don't let the complacency slip in by listening to the outside world. Focus on the internal training we have got and what we are going to do against Aston Villa.

'If we listen to outside influence and we take notice of it then we will fail in our task.

'At the football end, we don't want to get complacent. We are focused on what we have to do to put on a good performance to beat Villa. We do not want to waste an away victory by not performing at home.'

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in