Van Hooijdonk strikes fear into Given

Champions' League: Newcastle v FeyenoordA match Nolberto Solano said "was always going to be the big one" for Newcastle United as a team and a club - their first Champions League game at home for five years and a realistic opportunity to get three points in a difficult group - has suddenly become a two-man shoot-out, if the noises at St James's Park yesterday were to be believed.

The men involved are Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given and Feyenoord striker Pierre van Hooijdonk, once of Celtic and Nottingham Forest. Given kept his second clean sheet of the Premiership season against Sunderland on Saturday but the expectation is if van Hooijdonk is offered the chance from 30 yards or less, Given will not keep a third.

There is sound thinking behind this. Last Wednesday, with Feyenoord trailing 1-0 to Juventus in Rotterdam, van Hooijdonk equalised with an exquisite effort that showed just how deserved his reputation from dead-ball situations is. It was, the records revealed, the 50th successful free-kick of van Hooijdonk's career.

At Forest and elsewhere, van Hooijdonk, 32, gained a mercenary name for not doing anything for free, but he has got his head around the concept of the free-kick and it is now his lucrative trademark. It helped Feyenoord win the UEFA Cup last season and of his seven goals this season, four have come from dead balls.

Modest as ever, van Hooijdonk described his attitude to the set-piece craft. "I don't need to be in good form when I'm taking a free-kick because I always know that I can score wherever I am and against whoever I'm playing," he said. "Scoring from free-kicks is the only part of my game I can rely on absolutely."

Accurate in word as well as deed, van Hooijdonk will lead Feyenoord as they defend a European run of 14 matches unbeaten. Twice last Wednesday the Spanish referee ordered his free-kick to be retaken as the Juventus wall encroached and as the drama built, and with the Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon winking at him, van Hooijdonk once again did what he does best.

Sir Bobby Robson said he was fully aware of the threat and his third-choice keeper, the Dutchman John Karelse, Ruud Gullit's last signing, had spoken to Given about van Hooijdonk.

"I think he'll deal with it," Robson said of Given. "We are aware of van Hooijdonk's ability at free-kicks but we'll be trying not to give any away. It's a danger but it's not something we're extremely worried about. Shay's a World Cup goalkeeper. You aren't going to frighten us."

Part of the explanation for the focus on van Hooijdonk was because Robson refused to get involved in a debate about Feyenoord's other qualities, although he knows all about midfielder Brett Emerton, a longstanding transfer target for Newcastle.

Had things been different Emerton, not Hugo Viana, would be a Newcastle player. The two may find themselves up against each other tonight, Viana likely to be included at Laurent Robert's expense.

NEWCASTLE UNITED (probable, 4-4-2) Given; Griffin, O'Brien, Dabizas, Hughes; Solano, Dyer, Speed, Viana; Bellamy, Shearer.

FEYENOORD (probable, 4-4-2) Zoetebier; Song, Paauwe, Van Wonderen, Van Haaren; Emerton, Bosvelt, Ono, Pardo; Van Hooijdonk, Buffel.

Guardian Service.