... what is he playing at saying that the squad at St James' Park is bigger than the one at Chelsea.
We all know he is rumoured to be on his way in the summer, having fallen out with those who hold the purse strings at Stamford Bridge. So when the Portuguese born manager bemoaned the lack of depth of his own resources (despite the investment of £200million in the last two-and-a-half years) he has his own interests at heart. He pointed to Roeder's good fortune in having such talented kids in the midst of an injury crisis.
Roeder: "I have great respect for Jose. He has always come across as a very serious coach, a brilliant coach, and I am sure he will sort it out.
"But what I had never realised - perhaps he is dropping his guard a little bit - I never realised he was a comedian. Maybe it was a little bit of a dig somewhere else for someone else to have a look at the situation.
"But I certainly would not want to get involved in any business of Chelsea's. Our players certainly had a laugh at it this morning and could see the funny side of it.
But the bottom line is here for the past two or three months, I could probably name a senior XI that have been out injured for all of that time.
"It has been an opportunity to blood a couple of youngsters and it is nice that Jose is thinking nice things of us and thinking we are better off. When we played them recently, I said the bench he had was probably the best five-a-side team in the world, and I stick by that.
"It is not a level playing field, but I know where he is coming from and I think he is just having a bit of fun."