Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew has defended their lack of Cup success.
Toon rivals Sunderland are now preparing for Sunday's Capital One Cup final.
Pardew shrugged: "There is half of you that would like to be playing for a trophy or some tangible reward at the end of the season like a European place.
"But there's also that other side where you don't want to be involved in at the bottom like we were last year and have that stress.
"We haven't got that to worry about now. "For us, it's about finishing as strongly as we can and maybe looking at one or two youngsters as well as we go along."
