By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Club Reporter

Alan Pardew was determined to focus on the positives of what he described as a "disjointed" 1-0 victory over Norwich on Sunday.

The Magpies sealed all three points thanks to a cool first-half finish from Demba Ba, but were never able to fully get into their stride, missing a handful of good chances - including a penalty - that would have put the result beyond any doubt.

Pardew believes a busy recent schedule has had an impact on Newcastle's displays, but was proud of his players for grinding out an important result on Tyneside.

"It was a big, big win for us, but not the performance that we wanted," the manager told nufcTV.

"The penalty miss definitely hurt us mentally, as to be 2-0 up (at half-time) we would have come into the dressing room in a different frame of mind.

"We were a little disappointed, knew we now had a battle on our hands and took that into the second half. We got a bit deep, a bit nervous at times and lacked a bit of ambition, but we will learn from that.

"It was a great goal though and a great first 40 minutes - we really played well then.

"There were some good performances in a kind of disjointed display.

"We are lacking a bit of training ground time. We are going from warm-down to warm-up to a game, and we are lacking a bit of fluency in our game.

"But the two centre-halves were terrific, Jonas was terrific as captain, Demba and Hatem were brilliant, and Harps didn't have a lot to do but made a great save.

"There are signs there but we can't really bring it all together. There were a lot of good things today though."

One of those good things was undoubtedly the performance of Hatem Ben Arfa, who tormented the Canaries rearguard to continue his outstanding start to the season.

Having already netted against both Tottenham and Aston Villa, Ben Arfa turned provider on Sunday for Ba's goal and looked a real threat every time the ball was at his feet.

"Hatem did a couple of other things (apart from the assist for the goal) which you could put in the 1970 World Cup or wherever," said Pardew, who was serving the final game of his two-match touchline ban.

"It's unbelievable stuff and he really is playing well for us."

To watch the full interview with Alan Pardew, click here