Glenn Roeder compared himself to a juggler yesterday, "keeping all the balls in the air". He said he was attempting to perform the trick "while walking on eggshells or on thin ice or whatever terminology you want to use". His analogy is understandable.
When Newcastle United play hosts to Celta Vigo this evening it will be the club's sixth game in 21 days. On Sunday, Portsmouth visit St James' Park in a must-win Premiership game, itself the first of eight more games before Christmas. Such a schedule places demands on players' bodies and Newcastle's are succumbing to the physical strain.
Roeder announced yesterday that Damien Duff will see a knee specialist today to see if cartilage trouble requires an operation, and Craig Moore is the latest defender to fall, hamstring damage meaning he will be out for "a period of time".
With Stephen Carr and Celestine Babayaro injured, Shola Ameobi in Colorado for hip surgery and Steve Harper having an operation next week - not to mention Michael Owen - Roeder laughed when it was suggested he may field a "shadow" team tonight. "A shadow team?" he asked, "we can't even get XI v XI in training."
Yet even with reduced numbers there will be no place for Kieron Dyer. Roeder said the midfielder is 100 per cent fit, but Newcastle's fragile Premiership position means Portsmouth matters greatly, and, having won the first two games in the Uefa Cup group, pressure has decreased.
As in Palermo, it may be time for Albert Luque to step out of the shadows. The £9 million Spaniard scored with a decent header to beat the Sicilians and, having played for Deportivo La Coruna, Luque should be motivated against Celta. If selected, that is.
Vigo come with a strong away record domestically having won at Real Madrid and at La Coruna, but having drawn their first group game, need the points more.
The muddy waters of the Uefa Cup will become a little clearer tonight when a clutch of British clubs can book their places in the knockout phase.
With the top three teams from the eight groups going through to join the Champions League drop-outs to form the last 32, victories for Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle and Blackburn Rovers will guarantee progress.
All four have won their two opening group matches, in stark contrast to patchy domestic form.
Tottenham, Uefa Cup winners in 1972 and 1984, travel to Bayer Leverkusen who drew their only match against Club Bruges.
The trip will be a special one for Tottenham's Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov as he faces the club for whom he scored 69 goals in 154 league games. He played no part in the 1-1 draw with Blackburn on Sunday as manager Martin Jol shuffled his strikers. But he is almost certain to return to partner Robbie Keane.
Blackburn, who ended a run of four successive league defeats on Sunday, travel to play Feyenoord in Group E, the Dutch club looking for their first win after drawing their opener at FC Basel.
Blackburn's Australian midfielder Brett Emerton also returns to an old stamping ground, having been part of the Feyenoord side that won the Uefa Cup in 2002.
Rangers travel to Auxerre in the standout fixture in Group A. The French club snapped a seven-game winless streak at the weekend but are still looking for their first Uefa Cup points.
