Alan Pardew looking to sign entertainers to improve Newcastle United

Alan Pardew, Newcastle United

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Alan Pardew has praised his Newcastle United side following their 2-1 home victory over Birmingham City, but has used his post-match comments to highlight the shortage of exciting players in his side.

Following the sale of Andy Carroll to Liverpool on the last day of the January transfer window, Newcastle have continued to do well, but with winger Hatem Ben Arfa still struggling with injury, Pardew is desperate for some new signings in the summer who will inspire the fans.

“I think what we can say about this team is there’s no real stars in it,” he told reporters.

“I think what they’ve done is have a real collective team bond that when a big game came around, like today, we’ve won.

“I think that’s a good trait to have. I think the next trait for us is to have a winning mentality and take that away from home.

“Now we need that three or four players that Newcastle are renowned for getting them off their seat.

“That’s probably what is missing and is what is going to take us beyond where we are at the moment.

“So that is the type of player we’re looking at and hopefully we can get one or two of those and add to what we’ve got.”

Newcastle’s victory has left them in 10th place in the Premier League and has given them a real opportunity to clinch a top-half finish in their first year back in the top-flight after a season in the Championship, although next week they travel to Stamford Bridge.

Pardew joined the club following the surprise sacking of Chris Hughton, but he has quietly gone about his job and he is pleased with the results his side have got for him.

He added: “Overall I’m absolutely delighted with 44 points, we’re in the top 10 again with two games to go, we can dream of a top ten finish.

“I’m very pleased because it’s been a difficult week at the training ground. We were all disappointed about Liverpool and we were frustrated and we lost our focus a little bit in training.”

Goals from Shola Ameobi and Steven Taylor secured the victory for Newcastle over 10 man Birmingham who had Liam Ridgewell sent-off in the build-up to the penalty, scored by Ameobi, which game the North East club the lead.

And Pardew had a lot of praise for his centre-back, who has been injured, he continued: “I thought with Steven Taylor, we’ve worked very hard with him and Tim Krul, who have both been on the sidelines.

“Both have come into the team and have done extremely well. Today I thought he Taylor was excellent. 

“When he first broke into the team he was being muted as the next Tony Adams.  It was about his aggression, his passing and his quality, he showed all that today.

“I thought he was outstanding. The goal was a case in point because he really attacked it and he deserved his goal. I wasn’t particularly pleased with his celebration, going off on his own but it was a great goal.”