5 Heroes (And 5 Villains) From Sacramento Republic 0-1 Newcastle

2. Papiss Cisse

Impressive during his first two outings of pre-season - and actively linking up with play like he has never done before - Cisse was virtually anonymous against Sacramento Republic. Hooked for Ayoze Perez after 70 minutes, Cisse did less than the Spaniard despite being on the pitch for almost three times longer. With Aleksandar Mitrovic's imminent arrival as a Magpie, Cisse's time on Tyneside could be coming to an end due to his inability to consistently link up with the rest of his Magpies teammates. Although he made an active effort to do so in the opening two pre-season games, it looked forced and he would likely struggle to reproduce that in a Premier League match. For a striker to go 70 minutes without troubling the opposition goalkeeper is unacceptable, but Cisse simply didn't get into the position to finish anything.