Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce has admitted he is going to find it
tough going keeping Obafemi Martins happy at St James' Park.
The Nigeria international faces strong competition for a starting
place in the first team from the likes of Mark Viduka, Shola Ameobi
and the in-form Michael Owen and Allardyce predicts he will not
take kindly to a prolonged period on the bench.
The striker pledged to fight for his place in the side over the
summer when he was linked with a move to Arsenal but that attitude
may change if he always finds himself on the bench.
"There is a difficult situation for me there because Oba is not
going to be totally satisfied if he is on the bench too long,"
Allardyce said.
"I have to manage that situation like I have with all the other
squad players who expect to be playing rather than not.
"I hopefully can manage that as well as I possibly can and keep all
the players as happy as I can, and then when they do get an
opportunity to play, they grasp that opportunity and make life
difficult for me to leave them out again."
