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Newcastle manager Alan Pardew keeps beard for Europa League

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He appeared for half an hour on the press room stage at St James’s Park. And, on reflection, we didn’t ask him the all-important question.

'Will the beard be staying?'

Bearded man: Alan Pardew has been growing his facial hair as Newcastle's European run continues

    More from Colin Young...   Northern Exposure: Sunderland are still a club in transition with Paolo Di Canio ready to instill radical changes 15/05/13   Pardew denies Newcastle rift as Di Canio calls for 'nice' Sunderland to develop an edge... but both are at risk of relegation 03/05/13   Northern Exposure: How long can Di Canio's Sunderland honeymoon last? 23/04/13   NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Paolo and Pardew ride the North-East rollercoaster... but is one of them heading for oblivion? 17/04/13   Northern Exposure: It's nearly time for the Tyne-Wear derby but who are the 22 players that Pardew and Di Canio should select? 10/04/13   Northern Exposure: Sunderland can't sweep this furore under the carpet, it would never have happened under Quinn's watch 03/04/13   Northern Exposure: The Toon Army are set for another long Europa League trip this week... but so are their opposition 05/03/13   Northern Exposure: Boro's form went down with the Christmas decorations leaving promotion hopes hanging by a thread 27/02/13   VIEW FULL ARCHIVE  

When we convened for the pre-match press conference in the Luzhniki Stadium, we asked the Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew about his beard.

Pardew revealed it was his personal tribute to Russia and its famous beardies of the past (more Lenin and Stalin than Dasaev or Blokhin, presumably.) 

After the goalless draw in the Luzhniki Stadium, a late but deserved and vital home victory over Stoke City in the Premier League, Pardew has kept the trimmed but unshaven look for the return leg at St James’s Park tonight.

What will he do if Newcastle progress to the quarter finals for the first time since Sporting Lisbon knocked Graeme Souness’s side out at that stage in 2005? 

Newcastle limped out of the FA Cup and Capital One Cup this season and Pardew admitted the teams he selected for those competitions, admittedly under the influence of injuries to the spine of his squad, were 'not good enough for this club’.

He would still rather go into this game with Fabricio Coloccini, Tim Krul and Hatem Ben Arfa who all played such a key part in getting Newcastle into this competition in the first place. Fully fit, they would still be among the first names on Pardew’s team sheet.

The XI he selects tonight will be his strongest team to beat Anzhi. And the intention is to go for goals from the start, and get a raucous and optimistic home support on side immediately. 

For the first time he intends to pick a side which will not have Sunday’s Premier League game in mind. Their win over Stoke last weekend was only their second after a European game and has given them some breathing space ahead of the visit to Wigan this weekend.

Preparation: Newcastle take on Anzhi in the second leg of their last-16 tie at St James' Park

While Newcastle have managed to win three of their last four at home, and are unbeaten in 12 European home games*, Anzhi have had an indifferent re-start to a season in which a first Russian title is the goal.

They lost unexpectedly to Mordovia Sarasnk at the weekend and £28million playmaker Willian is out. Pardew said in Moscow that would be crucial for the second leg. But Anzhi are still dangerous as Willian is still finding his feet anyway.

They come to Tyneside with an ability to play with freedom, knowing a scoring draw is enough, and the first goal could kill off Newcastle and their supporters.

Newcastle are well prepared. Pardew may have had to surrender two cup competitions this season. But he wants to win this one, and believes Newcastle can.

He said: '0-0 is not precarious, it's a great position, we need to win the game. We squeezed through last time but we want to win this and we'll have 40,000 Geordies in here going mad. I think Anzhi lost 1-0 to Liverpool earlier this season and this match will be tough for them.

On the verge: Newcastle impressed in Russia as they earned a 0-0 draw in the first leg

'They've played the one league game from their winter break and they lost to two set plays. They had a difficult game against us before that so that would have impacted on their performance. They're one of three teams who could win the Russian league so that shows their high standard. On current form, it's just one league game post winter break so you can't judge them on just that.

'I spoke to Brendan Rodgers about the two fixtures they had against them and we've studied and analysed their games so we know all we need to know about them - it doesn't mean to say we can stop them, they've got one of the best managers form the last three decades and we've a tough agenda on but we believe we can win again going in on the back of three home wins.

'I'm not going to disclose the ins and outs of what tactically we felt might be the answer, but Brendan was complimentary about them and came up with a couple of warnings and a couple of ideas he felt we could benefit from, things like that.

'They're pacey, so are a threat on the counter-attack. They can take the sting out of the game and we made hardly any offensive impact in the first game so hopefully we will come up with our own answers rather than them coming up with defensive answers.

'They have real quality, Jucilei, who our fans won't know, is outstanding, he sits in front of the back four. Then there's Eto'o and Willian will cause us trouble but we're in form and there's great spirit at the training ground so it's a great opportunity for us which we hope to take.’

Danger man: Anzhi striker Samuel Eto'o

A St James’s Park European night welcomes a crowd beyond the regular season ticket holders, and with that has come problems and fines which have cost the club `a fortune’. 

Pardew was eager to ensure the 'Toon Army’ know they have a role to play, but the message to curb the flares and pitch invasions was just as serious.

A trouble-free night through to the last eight will do nicely.

*They are unbeaten in 12 European games if you include the 2005 Intertoto Cup defeat to Deportivo La Coruna. If not they are on an unbeaten run of 24 games (won 19, drawn 5).

Here’s some more interesting stuff from Newcastle United’s Mark Hannen's fact sheet

This is Newcastle’s 132nd game in Europe and 108th in UEFA competitions.

Anzhi Makhachkala are the 178th different side Newcastle have met competitively. They are the first Russia side to have played Newcastle.

Newcastle have played teams from 27 different countries since they competed in their first of 16 European campaigns in the 1968 Inter Cities Fairs Cup.

Sporting Lisbon are the team Newcastle have faced most. The fifth was Sporting’ s 4-1 home win in the 2005 quarter-final second leg, the last time they reached that stage and a year after their semi-final defeat to Marseille.

Guus Hiddink was in charge of PSV Eindhoven during the 2003/04 season when Sir Bobby Robson’s Newcastle United drew 1-1 in Holland before winning the second leg of their UEFA Cup quarter-final tie 2-1 at St James’s Park.

Newcastle’s only two UEFA Cup home defeats have come at the hands of Bastia in 1977 and Monaco in 1997.

Newcastle have used 33 players in the Europa League this season. No player has played all 11 games. Sylvain Marveaux and Gael Bigirimana have featured in nine.

Newcastle have scored just eight goals since matchday one – the lowest tally of any of the group stage survivors.

Shola Ameobi is top scorer with three. He will make his 50th European appearance for Newcastle if he plays tonight. He is currently equal with Alan Shearer and 13 behind Shay Given on 62. Ameobi is second top scorer with 15 goals, Shearer scored 30.

  More... We are in it to win it: Pardew says this crop of Newcastle players can be Euro heroes Ben Arfa ruled out of Toon Europa League decider through injury Shola Ameobi... the Toon legend! Striker set to make Newcastle history on Thursday All the latest Newcastle news, features and opinion






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