Geremi Joins The Goalkeeper's Union!

Last updated : 06 August 2008 By Footy Mad - Editor

The Cameroon international is concerned by a lack of strength in depth and is desperate to see additional new faces before the Magpies begin their campaign at Manchester United on August 17.

Jonas Guttierez, Danny Guthrie and Sebastien Bassong have been the only arrivals at St James' Park this summer.

Geremi: "The most important thing now is for our players to get some minutes under the belt. I think we had 17 players out against Real Mallorca. That's the problem.

"We hope this week we're going to get some players because we play two more friendly matches before the new season and at the moment we don't have enough players so we hope our good players can come back quickly (from injury).

"It's too early to say what to expect from Newcastle next season because we need our key players back. The good news is we've got two matches before the (Premier League) kick-off. After that we can say how far we can go. When we get our players back it will be a good test.

"Unfortunately some of our players are not fit at the moment but hopefully most are going to come back this week to play in the two matches we have at home. After that we will see how good we are.

"Oba (Martins) and Michael Owen are the type of players who find it easy to get fit. Mark Viduka (who has had a thigh injury) needs matches but Oba is ready now we are telling him.

"This team has a lot of young players but sometimes you need experienced players around them. When all our team is fit we have that. It's important I use my experience to help the young players and any new ones we bring in.

"We had a good finish last year and now the manager has tried to bring in more players. But if we're going to get results we have to gel quickly."