He says his players give him the opportunity to be "versatile" in his formations.
Who would expect a side to play 4-3-3 away from home? But the Toon boss says he tries to vary his approach to each game.
Alan Pardew: "They're a fantastic set of players and there's a fantastic camaraderie between them.
"We've given them a tactical base but we're not based around one system we've got two or three systems that we can turn to and the players bind to anything that we put in front of them which is fantastic.
"It doesn't happen often at a football club so I'm very privileged to be working for these players.
"We're a year ahead of schedule.
"I didn't expect us to be as close as we are to those (European) spots but we're going to take the chance in front of us if we can.
"That's football - it doesn't often put an opportunity in front of you and you've got to grasp it.
"I keep saying to the players that you've got an opportunity so grasp it with both hands and that's what we're going to do hopefully in the remaining games.
"We are ahead of schedule only because of the players and the application they've had. They're absolutely brilliant."