The Toon Army are looking forward to a Europa League quarter-final against Benfica this week — but back at home they sit just three points above the bottom three.
The game in Lisbon will be their 13th in the competition this year and that meant Pardew was forced to field a depleted team which was despatched easily by the champions.
He said: "There are too many games in the competition — I'm never going to change my opinion on that, even if we win the bloody thing. It needs to be looked at.
"We've lost too many players through injury. Unless we win it, we won't be in next year so we won't have that pressure and we'll have a team that can compete — top 10, top eight, top five maybe."
Pards insists he is not panicking about their league position as home games against Fulham and local rivals Sunderland loom.
He said: "Relegation has been at arm's length for a while. I don't think we've been that far away from safety, "There's talk about who has games in hand but it's all ifs and buts. We are where we are. You need 40 points this year for sure."
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