Beleaguered Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has revealed that criticism of him is filtering through to his players, who he feels need to start delivering on the pitch.
The 53-year-old singled out France international Remy Cabella, who has failed to hit the ground running in the Premier League after a £12m switch from Montpellier this summer.
"Remy Cabella has to start performing now," Pardew is quoted as saying by The Guardian. "This is a much younger squad than 2009 but we haven't got time to wait for players to come through, they have to deliver now. We can't hang around any more.
"This is a difficult club to play for. It can be the greatest club in the world to play for when we're winning but we're not winning, so it becomes even harder to play for us and these players have to make sure they can handle that. Although the pressure is signalled on me, it's coming through the staff, it's coming into the training ground and, of course, the whole squad is feeling it.
"To calm it down a little bit I have to win a game. The players need the confidence of a win. Normally if we went to Swansea and drew I'd be quite pleased but I accept that's probably not going to be enough to take the spotlight off us this time. We need to be strong."
Newcastle travel to Swansea City later today.
Phil Archbold
