Alan Pardew: “He’s still had a great year for us – without the goals.
“In some respects he’s played a lot better for us this year, his game has improved.
“He just hasn’t got the goals and they haven’t broken for him.
“That goal will do him the world of good.
“You can’t take somebody like him off unless the game plan changes.
“It’s given us a chance to look at the top 10 as well – where we should be.
“We’ve had such a terrible season with injuries and suspensions.
“We’re still missing Coloccini and Tim Krul.
“A lot of teams couldn’t absorb that, but we absorbed it well.
“We’ve improved dramatically and we needed to. We have a good team now.”