Roeder said: “The boys have done well, and that is all they have done. They have got to keep working hard at their game if they want to stay in the first team and have careers at Newcastle.
“I am looking to improve the quality of the squad at all times and I have got an opportunity now in January.
“When new players come in, players like Huntington, Edgar, (midfielder Matty) Pattison, Ramage and Taylor will all be fighting for their places.
“I am looking to raise the bar, raise the quality of the squad. Defensively, that needs to be done – and it will be done, if not this January, then in the summer.”
He added: “I certainly will not get carried away with what they have done and I do not want anyone else to get carried away with what they have done.
“Paul Huntington, David Edgar and Matty Pattison have just lifted their foot to put it on to the first rung of the ladder. That is all they have done.
“When kids come in and sign on with the Academy as 16 years olds and say they have got their foot on the first rung of the ladder, I disagree. They have got both feet firmly on the ground.
“You do not lift your foot on to that first rung on the ladder until you have made your first team debut.
“That is what they have done. They all have an awful lot more to do, all five of them.
“Steven is very much just starting his upward learning curve, Peter the same.
“They are not experienced players, and yet compared to Huntington, Edgar and Pattison, they seem like old men.
“But they are not and we must not forget that. They are still very inexperienced players who have done well, but no more than well.”
