Alan Pardew's unlikely lads.

Alan Pardew is yet to impress some, which is harsh in my opinion but everyone is entitled to one I guess.

Judging Pardew is tough at the minute as this isn't his team.

The right time to judge him is after the summer and beyond, way into next season. He'll have his own team and will have been able to put his own stamp on the way we play and so on. However, it hasn't stopped me being impressed with what he has done so far.

There isn't much difference in terms of results between Chris Hughton and Alan Pardew, but what I will say is that despite the injuries and lack of players that Pardew has had at his disposal he has matched the points rate we achieved under Chris Hughton earlier on in the season. However, comparison isn't the point of this article. It's the lack of players that I want to focus on.

When Andy Carroll went we lost a big part of the team. We got a big fee for him but that wouldn't have mattered one bit if the gamble of selling Carroll had backfired and we slipped into the relegation mire. It's thanks to some fantastic performances from some unlikely lads that we aren't involved that relegation battle. It's that last line that I want to concentrate on.

Everyone loves Kevin Keegan, well almost everyone, but he had his flaws whilst he was manager of Newcastle United. Tactically, especially first time around, we tended to know one tactic - attack. It was great to watch and nearly got us to the title, but it ended up bringing us nothing. Keegan's strongest suit was instilling self-belief into players and making them perform beyond their ability, which is something I believe Alan Pardew also has the ability to do to an extent.

Take Leon Best for example. Widely condemned as a failure and looking like heading out on loan under Chris Hughton. Change of manager, give the lad a chance, partly because the player himself was asking and partly through necessity after the Carroll sale admittedly, and we get six league goals in nine league starts (10 appearances) as a result. It would have been easy to include Best at the time, but giving him the confidence to do it on the pitch is not so easy.

Steven Taylor is another example. People scoffed, including me, when Pardew was banging on about Taylor and England and how he needs to live up to his early career expectations. I've been critical of Taylor in the past, but these last two performances, in which he has scored two times, have been superb. Maybe Pardew's influence has helped him to up his game?

You can even look at some of the young players if you like. The majority of them have come in and have looked decent, or exceptional in the case of Shane Ferguson. It's widely reported that Pardew is heavily involved with the the younger players and often attends their games and training sessions, which will give them a bit more belief in my opinion.

One again, a lot of this has been through necessity, but it's easy to play a player and let them get on with it. It's a whole different affair to play a player and to get them to perform. Pardew has done that in the main, and long may it continue!