Newcastle vs Wigan preview - Pardew hopes Magpies can handle setbacks

Posted Saturday, October 22, 2011 by PA

Manager Alan Pardew admits he will not know everything about his high-flying Newcastle team until they run into problems.

Against all the odds, the Magpies head into Saturday`s Barclays Premier League clash with struggling Wigan unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions so far this season and sitting in fourth place in the table.

While there was confidence within the camp before a ball was kicked that a squad shorn of Kevin Nolan and Jose Enrique - and Joey Barton soon followed them through the exit door - could still compete, Newcastle's rise to prominence has taken many by surprise.

Few even within St James' Park expect the club to retain such a lofty status with Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea in successive weekends looming large on the horizon next month and beyond.

Pardew has already seen how the likes of summer signings Yohan Cabaye and Gabriel Obertan can perform when things are going their way, but he admits he will only really see what backbone his new-look team has when they find themselves up against it.

Asked if he still has much to learn about his team, Pardew said: "I think so and I think Saturday will provide some different problems because the crowd will be expectant.

"We haven't really had that this year, them expecting us to win, so maybe our first misplaced pass will be greeted with jeers. They are the sort of psychological things we have got to overcome.

"We might have a guy sent off, the ref might make a terrible decision - we haven't suffered that yet, so that's all to come and it's how we react to that."

Many of the men who will do battle for the Magpies, of course, were in the side which more than made a fist of life back in the Premier League last season and the manager knows all about their resilience and character.

But while the new boys are yet to face any kind of adversity, the manager is confident the homework he and his scouting team did before they signed them will pay dividends.

Pardew said: "It was like with Cabaye when I saw him at Lille and when we scouted him - what was his character like when things were going against him?

"It was very, very strong, so it's not a complete fluke. You have to make sure you are bringing in players who have that character.

"Demba Ba at West Ham - if you speak to any West Ham fan, he never threw the towel in, he was always trying to retrieve a situation for them, and they were coming to the great pros we had here, the Sholas, the Alan Smiths, et cetera.

"We have got that and it's very, very important when you have got a league where actually, there isn't much between us other than three or four sides.

"If you can have that, it does give you a slight advantage."

Manager Roberto Martinez believes Wigan have made it part of the club's DNA to defy the odds and he has urged the players to rediscover that mentality.

Last season the Latics survived relegation from the Barclays Premier League with a victory on the final day of the season to extend their top-flight stay to a seventh season.

Having begun the current campaign positively Martinez's side are currently in a slump of five successive league defeats.

They travel to Newcastle as rank outsiders against a team who appear to be defying the odds at the moment.

But Martinez believes those are exactly the sort of statistics the club have been battling against ever since they made their way up through the leagues following their formation in 1932.

"When you play for Wigan you need to be able to defy the odds and that is the way we have always played our football," said the Spaniard. "I feel we are capable of responding to adversity and that is what we have to do on Saturday.

"Don't get me wrong we don't want to be in our current position but we know at the moment it doesn't mean anything now because it could be a reflection of who you have played and what injuries you have.

"We know where we are and what we have to correct. The next game is a massive football occasion and we are ready for that.

"At Wigan you learn to push yourself to the maximum.

"We have been seven seasons in the Premier League and we have to give everything and more to keep that going."