“I had one eye on Monday by selecting the youngsters, and I was disappointed we didn’t give it a better go.

“The truth is the younger players know they didn’t quite do it tonight. They need to learn more about the level we want. I will look to loan some of them out.

“They didn’t do enough to retrieve the situation and they may not get these kind of opportunities again.”

All eyes will now be trained on the situation in January, and The Journal can reveal that more detailed plans are now in place for United’s New Year recruitment drive.

“We wanted to qualify and we did that with a game to spare. I just hope when we come out of the other side of the window we have a stronger squad,” he said.

Although the night was a disappointing one, Pardew at least had a more positive prognosis on the crop of injured players who had not travelled with the squad to France.

Hatem Ben Arfa is likely to lead the cavalry of returning players at Craven Cottage, with Davide Santon and Demba Ba also in line to return to a team that is bidding for their first away win of the season. And there were words of praise for the band of Newcastle supporters who made the trip to Bordeaux to see the team beaten by their French counterparts.

They will be hoping for more memorable away days when the draw is made on December 20.

“The good news is the fans can look forward to the draw and they have been brilliant,” he said.

“We can look forward to seeing bodies back for Monday night against Fulham – Cheick Tiote, Demba Ba, Gabby Obertan, Davide Santon and Hatem Ben Arfa will train on Saturday, and Jonas Gutierrez on Sunday.

“We are in a better position now.”