Last Updated: Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:05
Alan Pardew believes Newcastle must strengthen in the transfer window to address injury crisis which is currently hampering the Toon.
Pardew admitted the patched-up side he fielded in the 2-0 defeat to Brighton in the FA Cup was inadequate but stressed the club must concentrate on relieving their precarious position in the Barclays Premier League.
Papiss Cisse and Fabricio Coloccini were missing with respective thigh and hamstring injuries, though both are expected to return against Norwich on Saturday. The influential Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye and Steven Taylor are out until next month, Cheick Tiote has been lost to the African Nations Cup and Demba Ba was sold to Chelsea.
Newcastle are only two points above the relegation zone and Pardew warned the club must act if they are to remain in the top flight.
"We need to make sure we are a Premier League team next season. Our team is a shadow of the team we can put out," he said.
"We know we need to get some bigger players who can handle the situation of carrying a Newcastle jersey, whether that's a signing or getting a player back from injury.
"It's important to spend during this month. I'd like to see another player come in through the door to join Mathieu Debuchy in the next week or so.
"It's difficult to get transfers in this window but we'll have to do everything possible.
"As Newcastle manager coming to Brighton in the third round of the FA Cup I'm aggrieved that I couldn't put out a stronger team than that. There are young players who have given everything there, their maximum performance. But unfortunately they shouldn't be playing for Newcastle in the third round, they should be in our development team.
"We lost Fabricio Coloccini and Papiss Cisse to slight injuries. I couldn't risk losing them because the most important thing to us is our Premier League status. We're not too big to go down and we accept that."
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