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Newcastle boss Kinnear reveals Martins pep talks

Newcastle United boss Joe Kinnear admits he's working hard on getting the most from Obafemi Martins.

Kinnear said: "He is one of these lads who gets very frustrated with himself. He has got bags of ability, he just needs to get a few goals to kickstart his season.

"The thing with Oba is his unpredictability. If you see him in training, he fashions something out of nothing and you think, 'How did he do that?'.

"He is that type of player. He is not a link-up player or a team player.

"The ball goes up to him and you think, 'give it simple', and he will backheel it, run round the other side of the player and then lash it into the top corner.

"You say, 'Okay, that's not too bad, don't give it anymore, just keep doing that'.

"You just hope what he does on the pitch in training, he transforms into match days. That's the key to it, doing what he does on the training pitch on match days."

Kinnear has told the former Inter Milan frontman not to be afraid to miss, and not to pass if he gets a sniff of goal.

He said: "I said to him, 'If you can get used to isolating yourself one versus one on the last defender, don't pass it to anyone'.

"The only trouble is, I think he fights himself at times. He gets narked within.

"He is probably a bit hard on himself at times because of his standard. He questions himself, he is one of those players.

"He has one focus, and that is to stick the ball in the back of the net, we know that. We know we are not going to get the ball if he sniffs out that he is anywhere near the goal.

"If he is any shooting distance, he shoots."

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