Pardew: Newcastle must be wary of Metalist threat

Alan Pardew insists his Newcastle side will have to be wary of the threat Ukrainian outfit Metalist Kharkiv will pose in their Europa League round-of-32 clash on Thursday evening. Pardew watched the Magpies' continental opponents draw 1-1 with Northern League Division One part-timers Whitley Bay on Sunday, and says he saw enough to suggest they will be no pushovers at St James' Park. "We're up against a new name in terms of European football - and it's a name, I think, that's going to stick around for a while," he told the club's official website. "It's a good platform for them but we don't want to be the victims of that. We're an old name, a legendary name in some ways in competitions in Europe, and we want to keep it that way and make sure we renew our reputation." The Ukrainian Premier League is currently on a winter break, with Metalist Kharkiv in fourth place after 18 games, but Myron Markevych's men have been maintaining their match fitness with a series of friendly games. "We were there on Sunday and they played very well at a difficult venue," he added. "They have a large influx of South American players who give the team a real characteristic of technique and that's probably what we're going to have to come up against. "They're very good at keeping the ball and keeping it away from us, and will probably take our tempo out of the game, so that's their strength and on the break they're fast. "So we need to be on our guard. As Juventus proved at Celtic, you have to be very clever in how you attack."