Pardew: I let the team down

Alan Pardew admits he got the psychological and tactical set-up of his Newcastle team all wrong in their 4-0 loss to Wigan on Saturday.

The Magpies conceded all four goals in the first half in a shock win for the relegation-battling Wigan and denied the Tynesiders a seventh victory in a row.

The 50-year-old conceded he had made mistakes but also insisted that, as a team, the efforts were not good enough against Wigan.

“Collectively we all got it wrong,” Pardew said.

“The psychology of the team and the tactical side of things is my responsibility, and I felt that I let the club down a little bit as well.

“But in the last seven games we’ve won six and then had a really bad 45 minutes. There were reasons for that and we’ve covered a few of those.”

Losing at the DW Stadium hurt the Magpies’ chances of qualifying for the Champions League, after dropping down to fifth as a result of the loss and Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers.

Newcastle also face a tough week ahead of them, with a game against Chelsea on Wednesday, before title favourites Manchester City visit the Sports Direct Arena on Sunday.