Pardew preparing his list to combat threadbare squad

NEWCASTLE boss Alan Pardew is readying himself for a difficult transfer window as he attempts to drag the club out of its recent slump.

Wednesday’s 3-2 home defeat by West Brom left the Magpies without a win in six Barclays Premier League games with the manager admitting his squad is being tested to the full by injuries and suspensions.

Pardew was unable to call upon central defender Steven Taylor, who is out for the season after surgery to repair his Achilles, and lost full-back Davide Santon to a knee problem, while Yohan Cabaye and Dan Gosling were both suspended.

A replacement for Taylor is a must next month – and Newcastle were yesterday linked with Ajax’s £10m-rated Jan Vertonghen – while the loss of 13-goal striker Demba Ba and key midfielder Cheick Tiote to African Nations Cup duty with Senegal and Ivory Coast respectively will blow another hole in the manager’s resources for several weeks.

Pardew was giving nothing away about his potential targets in the New Year, but said: “We are having to look at our squad because we are stretched, especially defensively.

“We have made some calls to try to find out who is available, but it’s a difficult window. You want to try to get a good player in a window when teams don’t want to lose their good players, so it’s not just difficult for us, it’s difficult for every team.

“You locate a player, but then they have got to get a replacement and is another first-team going to let a replacement go? There’s a knock-on effect. It’s a difficult window. We will have to see how it pans out.”

Pardew hopes to retain the service of Ba and Tiote until around January 15, but the frontman in particular will be a huge miss when he does go. He twice dragged his side back into Tuesday night’s game with stunning equalisers to take his tally to 13 goals in his past 12 league outings, but still ended up on the losing side as Paul Scharner snatched victory for the visitors five minutes from time.

Pardew said: “He’s a great player, and you are going to miss great players. He is going to the African Cup of Nations and he will probably want to win that. Knowing Demba and the way he is playing, he probably could. He has been absolutely terrific for us.”

If Pardew was left frustrated by a fourth defeat in six games heading into the St Stephen’s Day trip to Bolton, he was at least able to comfort himself by the emergence of another genuine first-team player after 19-year-old Slovenian midfielder Haris Vuckic impressed in his first league start.

Vuckic hit the bar before the break and forced a fine late save from Ben Foster to announce himself in style.

The teenager said: “I’m happy that I got the chance. I think I proved to the gaffer and the fans that I can do it.”

Pardew had set his sights on reaching the 30-point mark by New Year’s Day, but could have done it by Christmas Day had Newcastle managed to win one of their home games against Swansea or Bolton in the last few days.

However, he will be more than content if that landmark is reached at the Reebok Stadium.