Newcastle boss Alan Pardew impressed with progress of former club Southampton

Alan Pardew is glad that Southampton have gone from strength to strength since he departed the club.

Depleted

The Magpies head south depleted by injuries and suspension and having lost their last two home league games to West Ham and Swansea. Even their progression to the knockout stages of the Europa League came courtesy of an unconvincing 1-1 draw with Maritimo at St James' Park, and Pardew admits life on Tyneside is tough at the moment. He said: "I looked at my board this morning and I have got 11 senior players not available for Southampton. That's a blow for any Premier League club, so it makes it difficult. "We had ambitions to be in and around that Champions League position and we are far from that, so we need to try to get some results. "Probably for us with the players we have available, it's going to be about hard work and grinding some wins out, which isn't really our style, but that's probably where we are at at the minute." Pardew will be without suspended skipper Fabricio Coloccini and the in-form Hatem Ben Arfa, whose hamstring injury is likely to sideline him for a fortnight, but not much longer. Such are the manager's difficulties that former Southampton trainee Nile Ranger, whose well-documented off-field problems have seen him plummet from contention, has been recalled to the squad.