SAM Allardyce is likely to play only a handful of the team that beat Nottingham Forest when Newcastle United come to the Reebok on Saturday.

For while he looks enviously at the likes of Alex Ferguson, Claudio Ranieri and Arsene Wenger and readily admits he does not have the resources to rotate his squad for league games, he does have the wherewithal to offer rest and respite for his front line troops, without jeopardising results.

Victory over Walsall in the previous Worthington Cup round came after he made 10 team changes!

"I haven't got a big enough squad to be rotating in the Premiership," he admitted after taking the opportunity to hand first starts to Bruno N'Gotty and Djibril Diawara as well as giving the likes of Rod Wallace, Colin Hendry, Ian Marshall, Nicky Southall and Leam Richardson much-needed match practice. "So I have to try and get the best 11 I have available out there as often as I can.

"But that was still a very, very strong side I put out the other night. They have all been regular first team footballers - not so much now because other players are doing so well - and this was a chance for them to show they can do the business."

Whether Allardyce will look any further than Jussi Jaaskelainen, Simon Charlton, Kevin Nolan and possibly Wallace when he names his starting line-up for Saturday will depend on how he decides to respond to the 2-0 defeat by Sunderland - a second successive Premiership loss at the Reebok.

N'Gotty and Southall have put themselves in the frame while Bo Hansen responded positively after losing his place in the first 11 but it is most likely that Gudni Bergsson, Mike Whitlow, Anthony Barness, Jermaine Johnson, Ricardo Gardner, Paul Warhurst and Dean Holdsworth or Michael Ricketts will all be recalled.

"N'Gotty is looking better and better as the weeks go on," the manager said of the big defender who arrived on a season long loan from Marseille just as old hands Bergsson and Whitlow were forging such a resilient and respected centre-back partnership.

"But from his point of view he's competing against players who have been the backbone of the side this season. So he's a little unfortunate that he hasn't got into the first team just yet but his improvement is very good. He looks very composed and very strong and it's good to see that."

Allardyce dismisses the suggestion that he will be under pressure when it comes to picking his side for the Newcastle game and the inference that he now has to keep some in-form fringe players happy. "There is no pressure," he insists. "Picking the side is relatively easy for me, getting results is the all-important pressure you have to cope with.

"I have no problems at all unless they start coming banging on my door and saying this and saying that. But I'm a big man anyway so it keeps that down to a minimum!"