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Pardew: 'Time To Roll Our Sleeves Up'
Written by Newcastle Utd
After three straight defeats, Alan Pardew says Newcastle's players must show how much it means for them to wear the jersey
By Dan King - Newcastle United Club Reporter
United boss Alan Pardew has told his players that it's time to show how much it means for them to play for Newcastle as they look to end a run of three successive defeats at Stoke on Wednesday night.
A catalogue of injuries have left the manager without several of his key players ahead of the trip to the Britannia Stadium, where the Potters are unbeaten so far this season and are notoriously hard to play against.
But the Magpies produced an outstanding display to win there last season and a bullish Pardew has called on his side to knuckle down and show the same grit and passion this time around.
Sunday's loss at Southampton followed home defeats to West Ham and Swansea and the manager has left no stone unturned as he attempts to end that sorry sequence against Tony Pulis' men.
"Of course it's a concern," he said. "As a manager and as a coaching team we've changed everything we've done, we've changed some stuff which we think might help and you have to change the environment because we've got a different set of players now in terms of what we had.
"I think it's all very much now about us all pulling really strongly in whichever role that we get given.
He added: "I don't think you need luck to win games - you like to think that the ability of your players is good enough - but you don't need a series of bad luck and that's what we've had in terms of injuries.
"Forget about the Europa League - we've suffered injuries regardless of that but those games on top of those injuries have really compounded the issue. But we can't moan about it. We've got what we've got and we're going to have to get on with it.
"It's time to roll our sleeves up and show our fans how much it means to us to wear the jersey and represent Newcastle."