Pardew calls for hard graft from Toon
NEWCASTLE boss Alan Pardew believes his side are going to have to roll up their sleeves to overcome the challenge of Swansea this afternoon.
The Magpies dazzled with a stylish brand of football last season to finish in the Premier League top five.
But they have stumbled of late and were beaten 1-0 at home by West Ham in their last outing.
"We are all kind of looking at each other. We want to get firing, we want to score three or four goals and set the stadium alight," said Pardew.
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"But it's not as simple as that, sometimes you have to graft your way through periods like this.
"I will be surprised if we go from West Ham to a real champagne performance. I think it will be something in-between — hopefully."
The Swans claimed a notable 0-0 draw in the North East last season and Pardew is not expecting it to get any easier.
"It's a tough test for us because we are going to have a stadium that will expect us to win and Swansea keep the ball really well — like they did last year, they got a 0-0 here and it was a frustrating game for us.
"They are a well-run club, they have a basic principle that they want to stick to, a vision, and that's important for a football club, to know how you are going to play and what you want to do.
"They stick to it and the new manager has taken up from Brendan Rodgers and they have added a couple of real quality players, so they are a real problem team."
Newcastle will be without Yohan Cabaye, Jonas Gutierrez and James Perch through injury and skipper Fabricio Coloccini through suspension, while there are doubts surrounding the availability of star striker Papiss Cisse because of a dispute with the Senegal Football Federation, who have threatened to invoke FIFA's five-day rule to prevent the 27-year-old's participation after he did not report for their midweek friendly because of a back problem.
Midfielder Cheick Tiote will return from a ban, although he will miss Thursday night's Europa League clash with Maritimo after collecting a third yellow card in the competition.
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