 When, in the immediate aftermath of a stirring Uefa Cup triumph at Palermo on Thursday evening, Albert Luque claimed that he had just produced his finest performance in Newcastle colours, it was impossible to argue. It might sound unduly harsh but it wasn't saying much given the unaccomplished manner of a Tyneside career that has appeared to lurch from one disaster to the next. In his 15 miserable months at St James's Park, the Spaniard has played 11 first-team fixtures from the start, most of them badly. So to insist that a game in which he had fired the winner against the joint leaders of Serie A having toiled tirelessly in a difficult role as his side's sole striker had been his best was not the biggest leap of faith. Many Newcastle supporters have long since given up on Luque, a player who has done little to justify his sizeable salary since arriving from Deportivo La Coruña in a deal worth more than £10m last summer. Yet although he has become United's most maligned player since Jean-Alain Boumsong's August departure, it seems Luque has not lost the confidence in his ability that few others of a black-and-white persuasion appear to share. The striker is adamant the Gallowgate faithful have not seen what he is capable of achieving with a football at his feet. It is something that he hopes to address imminently, although it remains to be seen whether he will be given the platform he requires if he is to have any chance of succeeding. "The only way Newcastle will see the authentic Albert Luque is if I get a run of games," said a player who has been a peripheral figure for United having failed to live up to his Riazor reputation. "I need to play consecutive matches. I have to be playing because it's the only way that I will improve. If I'm not playing, it is impossible to show what I can do. I will only play well if I get the games. "I need to play a game and finish it and it would be nice to think that I could do that soon, maybe even in the next match (against Sheffield United this evening). I don't think I have ever played three games in a row for Newcastle and that makes things very difficult." Luque is mistaken in his final point having played in four successive first-team fixtures last December - although given that he has otherwise never started consecutive games in Newcastle colours, his point remains a valid one. With Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins and Shola Ameobi all injured, now would appear an opportune time to discover once and for all whether Luque stands any chance of ever making the grade at St James's Park. Yet given the club's Premiership plight, Glenn Roeder's reluctance to experiment would be understandable and it would come as little surprise if Giuseppe Rossi and Antoine Sibierski were restored to frontline duty for a game the Magpies can ill afford to lose. "There might be a chance for me because players are injured, sometimes that happens in football," said a hopeful Luque, who has tasted Premiership action just twice as a substitute this season. "I have just played my best game for Newcastle. It was important that we won it, it was nice to play a part in it and I'm extremely happy. But I don't want this to end here. I want to play more and more." Only Roeder can determine whether or not that happens, although were Luque to return to the shadows it would be a decision that all but confirmed that his days at St James's Park are numbered. The under-employed 28-year-old only got his rare chance at Stadio Renzo Barbera because a crippling injury list had left Roeder with little other option. But with players returning, the United boss has a difficult decision to make. "It's the same for Albert as it is for all the other players," said a manager who having challenged the Spaniard to prove his worth this week, witnessed a marked improvement in Palermo. "He has always been in the squad, although he hasn't always been involved, but he has been given his opportunity and he has scored the winning goal in Palermo. "Albert will be the first to admit that it has been difficult for him to settle into the pace of the Premiership but he is working hard to try to get there and he needs to keep doing that if he is to adjust fully to the consistent high tempo of English football." It is an adjustment that Luque does not feel can be made without an extended run of top-flight fixtures. "I have come from a different Continental style of play and I feel I need consecutive matches to get me totally used to English football," he added. "I also need goals and it was important for me to get that one in Palermo to help me get some confidence back." There is a general consensus in some quarters that Luque's fate has already been sealed and that, regardless of what he might do in the short-term, his long-term future lies elsewhere. It is a theory that will be put to the test when the home side is announced at St James's Park this evening. Should Luque fail to merit inclusion it will speak volumes about his chances of ever proving wrong those who question his talents. Clubs should not be so quick to sack managers who do not produce instant success, according to Sheffield United boss Neil Warnock. The Blades chief, who is a month away from seven years' service at Bramall Lane, takes his side to Newcastle today. St James's Park is something of a graveyard for managers, with the club on their eighth boss in the last 15 years as they desperately seek success. Current incumbent Glenn Roeder, who took over in February, is already under pressure with his side languishing in 17th place but Warnock believes that should not be the case. "You have only got to look around at the pressures in football on Alan Pardew (West Ham), Stuart Pearce (Manchester City), Glenn Roeder," said Warnock. "Me and Aidy Boothroyd (at Watford) are apparently in the safe jobs. The pressure is on because the expectations are so big in the Premier League and there there is so much at stake money-wise. "Pressure is everywhere. I don't think it is something young managers come up against because it has not really happened to them a lot. It is a learning curve for them and they all have to go through it." Warnock pointed to the example set at Manchester United, where Sir Alex Ferguson marks 20 years on Monday. Yet he too was under pressure early in his career and the speculation was, had Mark Robins not scored to beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 in the third round of the 1990 FA Cup - which United went on to win - Ferguson would have lost his job. "Stability at a club is sometimes far better than the initial reaction of losing a few games," said Warnock. | 
