Source: FOOTYMAD
Toon 'Punching Above Their Weight'?
Alan Pardew says his Newcastle players are defying the odds to get into the Premier League's top four. Alan Pardew: "I took my phone and got a picture of it [fourth in the league table] to make sure it was correct, and I will keep that. "There's no sense of us getting carried away - I don't think that will ever happen under my management. "It's about taking that belief into the games. That's where we are and that's where we deserve to be and from now on, that's where we have got to try to stay if we can. "The discipline in the squad has been the key and our defenders have been really at the top of their game. "Where we sit right now, there is a huge dependence on them at the moment and we want to just change that, take some pressure off them and get a couple of goals here and there - or maybe three or four. "We know as a group we didn't play particularly well and we rode our luck a couple of times. The rest of our play, our resilience, our commitment and work-rate, was very evident. "We just need to tweak ourselves and make sure we pass the ball and take care of it and threaten the opposition more at Aston Villa, hopefully. "I think they are a little bit like us - they have three or four new players they are trying to bed in and are not exactly sure what's their best team at the moment. "But most teams in the Premier League are still finding their feet a little bit. "They [Villa] have some outstanding individuals, of course, and they will be a definite threat to us. "But we have conceded one goal in the Premier League, and that gives us a good foundation to go on and try and win the game."
