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Alan Pardew fielded a noticeably weaker squad than normal Thursday in France for Newcastle's Europa League game, leading to a 2-0 loss to group winner Bordeaux. While the result was somewhat expected given the selection, Pardew was apparently less than pleased with the effort shown by several of the players:
The truth of it is that a lot of our young players who we played tonight, I was expecting a little bit more...I was just a little bit disappointed that we didn't give it a better go in terms of trying to retrieve the situation after conceding the first goal...I will probably look at loaning a few of those who played, hopefully after January when I have got a stronger position in the squad. I think they need to learn a little bit more about this game.
Pretty harsh words from a man who typically tries his best not to say anything of substance in his post-match comments. Obviously the players sent out on loan will be contingent on business done (or not done) during the transfer window, but we may be seeing the likes of James Tavernier and Mehdi Abeid wearing another team's shirt soon enough.