Pardew: We need some luck

Alan Pardew knows his Newcastle team will be up against it when they attempt a return to winning ways at Manchester United on Saturday.

Newcastle began the season with an unexpected 11-match unbeaten run, which came to an end with a 3-1 loss away to league leaders Manchester City last week.

Their task is hardly any easier this weekend; they must visit the reigning champions at their Old Trafford home, where Newcastle have not beaten Manchester United since 1972.

“If you’re going to Old Trafford, against the quality of players and the atmosphere that’s created in that stadium of course you are going to find it very, very difficult,” Pardew said.

“The odds are that you’re not going to get many victories – maybe we’re due one.”

Pardew acknowledges Newcastle will need luck on their side to get a positive result against Sir Alex Ferguson’s team.

But he is also aware his players must take the game to their opponents in Saturday’s match if they are to have any hope of staging an upset.

“You need a bit of luck, you need sometimes the ball to run your way, or fortune to favour (you),” he said.

“We have to force them into a situation where they might make a mistake or we have a forward running beyond and a player commits himself and they’re down to 10 men.”

“We almost did that at Manchester City, we almost got the first goal on a couple of occasions and as I say that’s crucial, when that chance comes along that we take it because we aren’t going to get that many chances there.”

First-half goals from Mario Balotelli and Micah Richards, followed by Sergio Aguero’s penalty, sealed Newcastle’s fate last time out at Etihad Stadium.

But Pardew saw cause for encouragement in his team’s performance, and believes they can learn from their mistakes.

“I thought the team functioned well, but there were one or two things I think we could do better,” he said.

“Hatem (Ben Arfa) and many of the other players in the side would have gained confidence from the fact that you know, there were some obvious things we could have done better against Manchester City.”

“We need to bring that to the playing surface against Manchester United for sure, otherwise we will get beat again and we don’t want that so we are determined to get a result.”