Pardew pleased Magpie pair can play

Alan Pardew has underlined the importance of central midfield duo Joey Barton and Cheik Tiote in Sunday’s clash with Wigan Athletic.

The pair narrowly avoided unwanted suspensions for the trip to the DW Stadium with Barton just one yellow card away from a one-match ban and Tiote clashing with Tottenham’s Younes Kaboul, who was red carded for head-butting him.

Fellow midfielder Kevin Nolan returns from suspension against Wigan.

Pardew could start with Barton wide on the right after Newcastle fans criticised a lack of supply to striker Andy Carroll from Wayne Routledge and Jonas Gutierrez.

“If Joey had picked up a booking, he’d have missed Wigan,” Pardew said.

“We got away with that one a little bit, because he was on a knife edge with the ref I think.”

“Cheik was on a knife edge too, and I had to make sure we had him for Wigan.”

“We had to protect ourselves a little bit towards the end, but the game wasn’t for us. It didn’t break for us – we never got a break in the game.”

Pardew clashed fiercely with Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and assistant Joe Jordan but shook hands with both after the game, with his goalkeeper coach Andy Woodman also coming under fire from the Spurs bench.

“There were a couple of incidents near the benches, but you’re going to get that. We’re fine – there’s no bad feelings,” he said.

The Newcastle manager has lost two of his first three games in charge.

But ahead of Sunday’s trip to Wigan, Pardew is hoping to rebuild Newcastle in the same way Harry Redknapp has transformed Tottenham.

“Let’s be honest, they are a very, very good side,” he said.

“They had people who could really influence the game on the bench, and for us, we need to add that sort of quality.

“That’s what we hope to aspire to.”

Pardew has also slammed defender Jose Enrique for using the social networking tool Twitter to reveal details of a hamstring injury that ruled him out of the clash with Spurs.

“I heard he tweeted that himself, and that’s something we can’t accept,” he said.

“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again as best we can. The information network, as it is, in society today means there’s instant news, but it shouldn’t be from our own players.”

“That’s something I’ll be speaking to Jose about.”

Enrique and Nolan should return against Wigan.

Thu 30 December, 2010