Pardew pleads for strength

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew has urged his team to remain mentally strong to break their winless run in the English Premier League.

United’s 3-2 loss to West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday marked their sixth straight game without a win after an excellent start to the campaign.

But Pardew believes their trip to Bolton on Boxing Day could end that run, and he hopes his players stay focused ahead of the visit to Reebok Stadium.

“That’s been the sort of run we’re on. We play West Brom and they get a last-minute winner and now we’re playing Bolton on the back of their first win for a while,” he said.

“That just happens in the Premier League. You hit teams in form and you feel like things are going against you.”

“We’ve got to be mentally strong and if we just do what we do and we do it well then we should win this game.”

Pardew said Newcastle needed to accept they would be under pressure until they ended their poor recent run.

“Three or four wins can make a situation look a lot clearer than it did prior to that and I think the pressure we’re under is going to be generated because of the results that we’ve had,” the former West Ham United boss said.

“We have to accept that and we have to be big enough and bold enough to turn it around.”

The 50-year-old also became the latest manager to leap to the defence of under-fire Blackburn boss Steve Kean.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and Everton boss David Moyes blasted Blackburn fans for their treatment of Kean during Rovers’ 2-1 loss to Bolton on Tuesday, and Pardew said he felt for the Scot.

“It’s a sign of the game that I don’t know whether 20 or 30 years it would’ve been quite as a vicious as it was to Steve Kean,” Pardew said.

“I know him well. He’s a personal friend of mine so I have great sympathy for the position he’s in.”