Pardew aims to strengthen Magpies squad

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is hoping to head into the knockout stages of the Europa League with a significantly stronger squad than the one with which he started.

The Magpies had already qualified for the next stage of the competition before Thursday night's 2-0 defeat in Bordeaux, which saw the French side retain their place at the top of Group D to secure, in theory at least, a more favourable draw.

Pardew said: "We wanted to qualify, that was the first agenda in this competition, and we did that with a game to spare. I think it would have been difficult coming here if we both hadn't qualified and they played their best team on that pitch."

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