Pardew praises Cisse masterclass

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew hailed Papiss Cisse’s performance as the difference in his side’s 2-0 Premier League win over Swansea.

The 26-year-old Cisse scored twice to secure three points for Newcastle at Liberty Stadium on Friday.

Pardew had nothing but praise for the Senegalese striker, who has now scored nine goals in eight games, and believes his side are lucky to have a forward of his pedigree in the team.

“He’s been brilliant,” Pardew said of Cisse. “He was our best player today. He was, of all our flair players he looked the one that was really on it.

“He’s got fantastic pedigree though. This was a boy who scored goals in the Bundesliga, he’s not a mystery. We’re lucky to have him, he worked for the team today.

“He deserved man of the match I thought and he was the difference between the two teams. The way Swansea play they pull you around and everyone has to chip in and fill in.

“He Cisse ended up left wing, right wing, through the middle. It was a fantastic win for us though, really really big win for us.”

Despite the possibility of Tottenham and Arsenal dropping points this weekend, Pardew was reluctant to talk up the chance of securing a Champions League spot.

“That was the away win we needed between now and the end, and our home games now could see us through to fifth, sixth place and that’s what we’re going to try to do,” he said.

The Englishman also expressed disappointment that his side surrendered so much possession to Swansea, but felt they gave a disciplined performance.

“We were flat today, we looked a little bit flat. Some of our flair players looked like they needed some energy,” he said.

“Maybe the early goal effected us a bit. But the discipline we’ve got in the group and the camaraderie we have in there … we sacrificed possession today. We knew the way they play at home is super in some of their movement.

“You’ve got to be patient. We gave up a lot of ground, we knew that if we could win it back in certain areas that they would be vulnerable and that was probably the reason we got the second goal.”

Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers felt that quality in front of goal separated the two sides.

Despite Swansea having 13 shots on target compared to Newcastle’s four, it was Cisse’s ruthless double which Rodgers believed to be the difference between the two sides.

“I feel bad for the players. They’ve worked very hard and we totally outplayed them,” Rodgers told SkySports.

“We just missed that bit of quality needed to put the ball in the net, and that is what they had.

“Two good passes from Yohan Cabaye and two good finishes, in particular the second one.”