Alan Pardew has warned some of his younger players that they need to shape up or face being shipped out this summer. After an awful run of nine defeats in the past 11 Premier League games, Newcastle United's manager has been questioning himself and his methods and now acknowledges he has possibly placed too much faith in the club's youngsters.
Although he could not have forecast the debilitating series of injuries which have all but ruined Newcastle's season, Pardew had hoped for much more from first-team fringe players including Sammy Ameobi, Shane Ferguson, James Tavernier, Romain Amalfitano and Mehdi Abeid.
"The younger players have not produced what I want them to produce," conceded Pardew whose side travel to Carrow Road to meet a Norwich City team managed by his predecessor Chris Hughton on Saturday. "They're going to have to work harder or they are going to have to leave this football club.
"With one or two, the work ethic needs to improve. It's very important they work hard and try to improve. I've tried to kick a couple up the bum in terms of the responsibility they have here. I can't even begin to explain the frustration. The trust we built up with the fans last season has started to erode away and we need to repair that. It's been very frustrating."
Under Mike Ashley's cost-conscious ownership, Newcastle have a policy of not signing professionals over the age of 26 other than in exceptional circumstances and believe that the majority of first XI cover players should be 21 and under.
Now, though, they arguably have reason to regret offloading experienced, effective second-stringers such as Leon Best and Peter Lovenkrands at the end of last season.
"We're going to have some tough decisions in the summer," said Pardew, potentially the principal victim of the club's bold youth philosophy. "We've got 17 league games and at least two in the Europa League to go and I'll need a lot of questions answered about what I think is under the first team here. At the moment, what's been underneath hasn't produced as I hoped it would."
Along the way one of football's more self-confident characters has succumbed to a few inner doubts. "You lose confidence in terms of faith in what you're doing to some degree, but you have to stay strong," said Pardew whose severely under-strength side were knocked out of the FA Cup at Brighton on Saturday.
The manager is keen to show he is striving to put things right. "I keep a record of everything I do, every single training session is logged and I look back at my diaries to see exactly what we were doing when things were going well," he said.
He is preparing for the Norwich game by chatting individually to players and providing them with personalised presentations including DVD analysis of their strengths and weaknesses, highlighting ways in which they can do better. While Davide Santon, who has been excellent overall this season but succumbed to tiredness against Brighton, has received a supportive arm around the shoulder, others have heard harsh words.
"I do worry about putting too much information into the players, though," said Newcastle's manager whose board continues to pursue a number of transfer targets as it seeks to sign a striker to replace Demba Ba and defensive reinforcements this month. "We need to show desire on the pitch but we don't want to push players over the edge."
Although the hamstrung Hatem Ben Arfa, Newcastle's most gifted individual, is undergoing rehabilitation in Clairefontaine and will not reappear until next month, Pardew hopes the imminent return of his playmaker Yohan Cabaye – who should be on the bench at Norwich – will raise morale. Meanwhile Cabaye's France international team-mate, Mathieu Débuchy should make his debut on Saturday.
Much is expected from the right-back newly arrived from Lille but Pardew counsels caution. "Débuchy will get a shock," he warned. "He needs to get the speed of the Premier League. If you're a right-back in France you can pass it back to the centre-back and read a book and still make a pass. You can't do that in England."
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