Alan Pardew: “This is a game where you, as a manager, you expect life and limb on the football pitch.
“As a player, that’s what I gave. That’s what I expect my players to give in every moment in every game.
“I don’t care what the scoreline is, I don’t care what the scenario is, that’s what I expect, and that’s what these fans expect.
“We were really upset with ourselves Thursday and Friday.
“That was reflected in training a little bit.
“But they were very, very strong – they worked really hard.
“They’re in a better position mentally.
“Obviously, we’ve got 12 games left to finish strongly.
“The games coming are more winnable than Chelsea away (a 3-0 defeat) and Tottenham at home.
“Ours stats suggest we’re not the same team without Colo.
“It’s like Liverpool losing (Luis) Suarez, (Steven) Gerrard and (Martin) Skrtel.
“Take those three out of Liverpool and they’d be damaged. We’ve been damaged.
“But that can’t excuse what happened against Spurs. It doesn’t.”