Newcastle United boss Glenn Roeder will build his new-look defence around over-worked keeper Shay Given.
The 30-year-old Irishman is in his 10th season at St James' Park and more than most, has had to pick up the pieces of the club's frailty at the back.
Roeder has signalled his intention to address the club's Achilles heel once and for all in the transfer market this summer with the likes of Titus Bramble and Craig Moore, who are out of contract, and loan signing Oguchi Onyewu, unlikely to be handed new deals.
However, while there are likely to be big changes at the back, Given, who is backed up by the equally reliable Steve Harper, will remain the constant.
Roeder said: 'There are parts of the team that quite obviously need to be strengthened, and there is no doubt about it, we need to strengthen in that area.
'We have one of the best three or four goalkeepers in Europe and he is asked at times to make too many saves.
'It is an area we are not strong in and I have been looking in that area of the team to strengthen.
'If you look at next year, Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins, Shola Ameobi, Antoine Sibierski, Kieron Dyer if we need him, the top half of the team looks very, very strong.
'In midfield, we are not too badly off, so before we move to any other part of the squad, I want to strengthen the defensive part first.'
Given and his team-mates head for Sheffield United tomorrow desperate to halt a run of three successive defeats in all competitions and having failed to score in each of their last four Barclays Premiership games.
They lost 1-0 to the Blades at St James' Park in November, a result which sparked angry protests from fans, protests which were mirrored after last weekend's home defeat by Manchester City.
For once, it was not defenders who were most culpable against City as too few chances were created and none of them taken on a black afternoon on Tyneside.
However, Roeder is acutely aware that mistakes at the back have proved costly during his and other reigns, and that is something he is determined to stamp out.
He said: Defensively, we let too many poor goals in. I cannot honestly put my hands in the air and conceded that many goals where we could not have done anything about it.
'We have contributed to too many of the goals we have conceded and that has to stop. That will stop with players of better quality.
'That is the first area of the team I would like to improve.
