When we look at players who have exploded on the Premiership in their first season and single handedly changed the fortunes of their team, Obafemi Martins has to rank up on the top. The Nigerian striker in his first game for the Magpies against Aston Villa had to be stretchered off with a dead leg and internal bleeding. His next few games were unremarkable and at £10.1 million paid in transfer fees to Inter, Roeder’s might have been forgiven for second guessing himself.
Newcastle struggled in the early part of the season and in the first 13 games of the season, they lost 8, drew 4, and won two. On the way Newcastle have at one point of time had 14 players out with injuries to Shay Given, Shola Ameobi, Emre, N’Zogbia, Damien Duff, Kieron Dyer, Peter Ramage, and of course, Michael Owen. Newcastle was in 15th position flirting very close with relegation.
In the last 14 games, Newcastle have won 8, lost 4, and drawn two. They have pulled themselves to the 9th spot and qualified for the UEFA cup from a group that included Celta Vigo, Palermo, Fenerbache and Eintracht Frankfurt. Since the new year, they have won 3, drawn 2, and lost one.
Uncoincidentally, this upsurge has come on the strength of Martins performance who after his uncertain start has gone onto score 10 goals in the Premiership. Equally important, he has endeared himself to the Magpies with his upbeat personality, typified by his trademark goal celebration, a series of gravity defying somersaults. All his goals have resulted in a win for Newcastle, except for a goal in a loss to Fulham. His most recent goal came in a pulsating win against Liverpool on 10th February. So dominating has Martins been in goalscoring that the next best scorer is Kieron Dyer with four (in 13 games, since Dyer has also spent time injured).
Obafemi Martins stats >>