Dai Young has bristled at being labelled the Kevin Keegan of rugby, insisting he does not want his Wasps side to embody the spirit of Newcastle United's great entertainers.
Wasps sit proudly atop the Aviva Premiership table ahead of their European Champions Cup quarter-final at Leinster on Saturday, having scored more tries than anyone else in the English league but also having conceded the joint highest among the top eight.
Wasps sunk Worcester 40-33 last weekend by outscoring the Warriors six tries to five, amassing a mammoth 73 scores in 18 league matches - but also conceding 49.
That helter-skelter approach has yielded parallels with Keegan's free-scoring Newcastle side that blew a 12-point Premier League lead to hand the 1996 title to Manchester United - a comparison that Wasps boss Young admitted he is keen to disprove.
"Contrary to people's thoughts, we certainly don't advocate the Kevin Keegan approach to game plans, where we are happy if they score one because we will score two," said Wasps boss Young.
"We really don't want a six-five try score at Leinster this weekend.
"I'd said before the Worcester game we don't want 40-30 but that's pretty much what we had in the end.
"We have got big performances in us. We are pretty confident we can do it and I know it is in those players.
"The frustration I get sometimes is I don't see it every week and that's just me being a grumpy coach probably.
"But it is my job to keep banging the drum, keep looking for consistencies because you get one game wrong and it can collide into two games.
"Then all of a sudden you've got to turn it around. We don't want to be in that position where I am trying to turn the ship around.
"I think I have got the answer and that's what I have said to the players. These are all big games now, and we are not going to just win these games with five minutes of brilliance."
Newcastle's title chase hit the skids in 1996 amid a pulsating 4-3 defeat at Liverpool, and Keegan's famed Sky Sports interview where he proclaimed about rivals Manchester United "I will love it if we beat them, love it!" owing to a feud with former Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
That expensively-assembled Newcastle squad certainly mirrors the attacking riches on show at Wasps, with world stars like Kurtley Beale and Willie Le Roux having jetted in this term.
Keegan bolstered his 1996 Newcastle ranks with late signings like Faustino Asprilla, but to no avail as their silverware hunt ended in vain.
Wasps are desperate not to follow suit, with England lock and captain Joe Launchbury insistent that the Coventry club are working hard not to let their current fine season slide away.
"We're obviously doing a lot right at the moment as we're sitting top of the table, but we've not won anything yet," said Launchbury, ahead of Saturday's last-eight European battle at the Aviva Stadium.
"Although our attack is a big danger to every team we need more of a complete performance.
"We've certainly got the squad to do that, and have shown in games this season we can do that, but now we need more consistency.
"To get ourselves in a good position over in Dublin we're going to need to get back to those sorts of defensive levels.
"I like the entertainers tag, but I don't like the games being great for the neutrals. I'd rather be entertainers who win well and are clinical, by putting teams to the sword and not letting them back in."
Source: PA
