Roeder Has Four Games To Save His Job!
Pompey boss Harry Redknapp could well have paved the way for Roeder being part of the cull after suggesting the Toon boss wasn't good enough for the "dream job" on Tyneside.
I'm sure the Newcastle chairman didn't need much encourageing to think of the future after United again played a first 45 minutes as though they had the sun and Benidorm on their minds.
Some critics still think Roeder is on borrowed time at Newcastle. He said all along "judge me at the end of the season", and that is what many are doing! Four games left, and we nine points away from relegation.
And Portsmouth fans, revelling in their side's latest 2-1 win(their first against Newcastle in the Premiership) cruelly chanted at him "You're getting sacked in the summer."
But Roeder hit back, and he's up for the fight. But if only he could have his players doing the same. I can tell you now, it is not a happy dressing room and some of those "star" players have little faith in a man who has struggled to motivate throughout his managerial career.
He took West Ham down, a side left to him by Redknapp and one the Pompey boss said on Saturday were "the best side ever to be relegated from the Premiership". He added "I still cannot believe how he got that team relegated".
Roeder also managed Watford (who he saw relegated) and Gillingham (who were 92nd in the Football League when he was sacked), and Redknapp's accusations Roeder's side are underachieving has had the Toon manager "bouncing" all weekend.
Roeder: "Nobody could have done better [than me] with all the injuries we've had this season.
"Sure, our squad is fantastic. We've got Michael Owen - but I've never been able to write his name on the team-sheet.
"Shola Ameobi had scored one goal every two games until he was injured [in November]. By the time he comes back, it will be six or seven months he's been out.
"Almost every one of our senior players has had three and four months out during the season.
"So the suggestion that the squad should have done better is rubbish because he [Redknapp] hasn't taken into account how difficult it has been with injuries. Some people have short memories.
"What makes me angry is that we have so many other talented players in the squad who lack his self-motivation. And we had a few players out there against Portsmouth who, in my opinion, were not giving everything. I find that totally unacceptable.
"The simplest thing in football is to apply yourself and have a desire to win but we had talented players, particularly in the first half, who did not do that.
"I had serious words with them at half-time and they came out for the second half a different team. But if I have to do that every game then those players will have to move on because they are not what I would want at the club.
"This is probably the strongest criticism I've given them but I was not going to have what I saw in the first half. We've shown it a few times, especially way from home, this season and I'm not going to have it."