Newcastle United boss Sam Allardyce has explained his decision to axe defender David Rozehnal for Sunday's victory over Everton.

"David's had a great joy in his life last week, with his wife giving birth to a son," he told the Evening Chronicle. "Unfortunately, from his point of view, it'll be a huge disappointment that he was on the bench.

"He's a terrific lad, who's done even better than I had expected already by playing a number of Premier League games one after the other."

And now Big Sam feels Rozehnal - who will take on Germany with the Czechs on October 17 - will be better for his experience.

He added: "My job is to allow some time to sit down, reflect and learn.

"A little bit of a rest is sometimes the best thing to do.

"And I felt that was the right thing to do based on our performance at Manchester City."