Hear hear!
Even when he makes these strange decisions at least the younger players are getting experience out of it. If he consistantly brought on Smith I think then it'd be a complete loss but for these lads, they're getting rewarded for their efforts and in the process Pardew can see how developed they are. I'd say Vuckic has shown himself to be quite comfortable and is valuable cover in a central position. Sammy has more of a 'free role' so his mistakes can be rectified by those around him but the lad needs a spell at a lower Championship/ upper League One side to add purpose to his skillful (but often clumsy) runs.
I definitely like that Pardew now seems to be taking the Roeder approach and is using the youth players as 2nd/3rd choice.