Alan Pardew last night promised Newcastle fans a top 10 finish next season – as long as his team don't get relegated this time.
The United manager was delighted with his players' efforts against West Brom at the Hawthorns, praising their battling qualities in what in the end was a hard fought draw.
Pardew admitted he didn't care where Newcastle finished on May 19, as long as they were still in the Premier League.
And he confidently pledged that next season would be a lot better for a support who have been put through the wringer over recent months.
"I wouldn't say the results (at West Brom and elsewhere) put us in a comfort zone. You have to make sure you get the points and not rely on other teams not getting them.
"We know that the club is in a great financial position. We have good players and if we can keep everyone fit, then we'll be stronger than we are today.
"Therefore, I would expect us to challenge for the top 10 next season, no problem. But we have got to stay in this division and we are still fighting to do that."
Pardew said: "I said last week that the energy levels weren't there, which wasn't good enough to cope with that Sunderland performance.
"In the first-half we really should have put the game to bed; we had three big chances at 1-0. We coped really well with West Brom.
"They went direct in the second-half and with their powerful strikers we had to show another side of our game, which was character. We had to roll up our sleeves and defend, and we did a pretty good job of that.
"My overall feeling was we showed exactly what we needed to without getting the three points." Pardew was adamant that this was a good point, gained from one of the country's most difficult grounds.
"If you have a goalkeeper who can hit the ball to the edge of the opposition box to powerful strikers, which they have, then it's difficult.
"The disappointing thing about the second-half is that we didn't get hold of the ball or create a chance, to get the winning goal. We were hanging on at the end, which we did well."
Pardew had special praise for goalkeeper Rob Elliot who pulled off a sublime save to deny James Morrison what in all likelihood would have been a winning goal for West Brom.
"He made one tiny error at the start of the second-half when the ball bobbled in front of him, so it took great character to be strong and solid in the second half. He came for all the crosses. And the save from the header was superb. He's good at that. He can be proud of his performance."
West Brom boss Clarke admitted his team should have been given little chance by the time he got around to his half-time talk.
"They were the best side in the first-half and on another day could have scored a second goal, which would have made it more difficult for us.
The game ended with referee Mike Jones awarding West Brom some dubious fouls close to the Newcastle penalty area that meant Pardew wondered what he had done to deserve so much misfortune.
He said: "We had more players missing through injury today and there were some decisions at the end that left us scratching our heads and wondering if another poor decision was going to cost us. Fortunately, it didn't."
Via: [Live Football] Jiangsu Shuntian - FC Seoul - AFC Asian Champions League
No comments:
Post a Comment