Pardew's pride as NUFC match up to Entertainers

Nov 6 2011 by Mark Douglas, Sunday Sun

ALAN PARDEW saluted his Newcastle United history-makers as they joined the Entertainers in St James’ Park folklore.

United’s 2-1 victory over Everton made it 11 games without defeat – their best start to a top-flight season since Kevin Keegan’s freewheeling side remained unbeaten for the first 11 matches of the 1994/95 campaign.

And Pardew admitted it meant a lot to a team that has bounced back from a summer of uncertainty to barge their way into the Premier League’s top four.

“It was important for us because you want to have that on your CV,” he said.

“These players are going to have that on their CVs, the best start since this club has been formed – 1951, I think, was the other time (before 1994/95 they went this long without being beaten in the top flight).

“That was something we had our eye on, and also to go to Manchester City unbeaten because you need confidence like that if you are going to take a team on of their power.

“After Barcelona, Manchester United and Manchester City might be second or third in that group of the best in Europe. We are going to the best in Europe in the next two games and we couldn’t be better placed to do it.”

It was not always easy for United against an Everton team that came storming back after a fine start from Newcastle.

Pardew admitted: “It was a difficult game for us today. We started well – so did Everton, as you would expect – and there were chances at each end.

“But once we got the goal, I thought, ‘This could be a good day for us here’ because we were really, really on it when we scored.

“We got a second goal, a fantastic goal and at that point, we were brilliant for about 15 minutes. I don’t think anyone could have played against us in that period, we worked so hard.

“Then their goal changed the game, and an injury to Cabaye changed it too because we lost a little bit of rhythm when he went off.

“They got a goal and you sensed the second half was going to be a little bit more of a struggle.