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Alan Pardew is battling revive group of moaning players including stand in skipper Yohan Cabaye.

The Magpies boss's future is in the balance, with doubt as to whether he will survive in the summer after a poor season.

In the short term, Pardew will be told to get the club out of their current mess, and there were no plans to make any immediate decisions yesterday.

His cause is not helped by a section of his squad being unhappy and ultra-sensitive to the criticism dished out during their slump to the brink of relegation.

Sources claim chief whinger has been skipper Cabaye, who has made his discontent clear to team-mates, rather than being the man leading the revival.

Cabaye, whose proposed switch to Spurs last summer but was blocked by United, is a summer target for Paris St Germain and has acted as a pivotal figure getting Pardew's message across to team mates.

It is feared that team spirit is disintegrating amid a blame culture that is wrecking the end of the season, with some players internally calling for more back-bone and spirit to be shown.

Pardew has denied that the "language barrier" is a problem in his management of the club, saying inexperience from new recruits at Premier League level is the issue.

But with eleven French speaking stars on the books, including January signings who have yet to master English, there are question marks over his ability to communicate and build a working relationship with the players the club hierarchy have assembled.

(Image: Gareth Copley)

Pardew held a short training session yesterday after the 6-0 defeat by Liverpool, during which players appeared to give up, heightening frustrations among a section of the dressing room who believed there was "no fight".

Owner Mike Ashley, who missed Saturday's game, is expected to attend the away game at West Ham with former players Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll, plus the manager Ashley first sacked, Sam Allardyce, all central figures.

Asked about his own performance against Liverpool, Pardew admitted mistakes were made.

He said: "There were a lot of things wrong. My selection of the team is open to criticism - of course it is. Do you think I am going to say they were right when we were 3-0 down? I felt what we tried to do in the game we did not achieve.

"My reflections are we have work to do. That team was pulled around and disorganised. We started badly and finished worse. We need to show a bit of character and heart. We have three or four players in that dressing room who were relegated not so long ago, and we are going to lean on their experience.

"That group needs to come together. We need to show we have the stomach for a fight."

Sources have claimed that Ashley is angry about the humiliation against Liverpool and "doesn't do embarrassment".

The United owner is the man who will decide if Pardew has enough credit in the bank from last season's heroics to be allowed to continue next season.

