Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is looking at November as the month which spoiled 2012 for him. In the space of 17 days, the Magpies lost to West Ham and Swansea at home and Southampton and Stoke on the road, and they reached the season's halfway point on Boxing Day with an agonising 4-3 Boxing Day defeat at Manchester United, meaning they have lost seven of their last nine league games.
Asked if he would be glad to see the back of the first half of the season, Pardew said: "Yes, I will be.
"You take November out of the calendar year and you have to say what a bloody great year we had.
"But unfortunately November soured it and its put us in a tricky position for this first half of the season.
"If we had picked up six points and been sitting on 26 with fourth place at 33, we would have been all right.
"We are really six points short of actually doing very well with the squad we have had.
"But we mustn't take our eye off it and think it's been okay or it's acceptable. It isn't and we have got to do better."
