Source: FOOTYMAD
It's Either Famine Or Feast For Pardew
Alan Pardew said yesterday: "My team picks itself", but today he says he faces a series of "late selection decisions" ahead of the trip to Stoke. Alan Pardew: "Jose Enrique and Jonas Gutierrez could play, we have just got to see after training tomorrow, really. "You are pitching them in without training after 10 to 14 days in a Premier League game where it is almost like warfare at times at their place, so I will be careful what I do. "I would have to be 100% sure they are right. "We think Joey has got a good chance - he did the warm-up today. Jose looks very doubtful; Jonas did the warm-up today, but he looks a bit doubtful. "I don't know. My selection will be based around being strong enough to cope with what they [Stoke] do. "They don't really carve you open with inter-play, it is set-plays and second phases and aggression and forceful play, and you have got to be able to cope with that. "That's something I will think about when I select the team. "It's not really an ideal situation for us. We ended up with a lot of injuries over the Christmas period when games were so congested - ridiculously so - and now we find ourselves with one game in the best part of a month. "It can't be right. For us, it is difficult because we are trying to keep the focus of the players. "We have this game, when we have had a two-week break leading into it, and we are going to have a two-week break coming out of it, so it's far from ideal. "But with the players I have and the experience I have, hopefully we will be able to cope with that."
