When Alan Pardew took time out of his team's open training session this afternoon to talk with SkySports, the major fall-out focused on his seemingly conservative (and frustratingly so) estimate that if Newcastle could get to 48 points or more that would be classed as a good season. In terms of last season - a campaign wrecked by a dramatic loss of form of almost the entire team after Christmas - that final figure would not have got 10th place, the supposed minimum from on-high to preserve Pardew's job. So quite why he's suggesting that this season the Magpies should get away with doing worse, with £30m of investment in new players in the squad and inevitably heightened expectations remains somewhat baffling. But if you push all of that aside, and the inevitable responses and outrage that come from fans desperate for some public acknowledgement of ambition to match their own, Pardew also offered a look at what he considers to be his first team picture - or at least some of it. Asked with how he would face the challenge of welcoming Man City to St James' Park this Sunday, "I think your first home game you'd like to win it, and it makes it difficult when it's the champions, but we're in great shape, we couldn't be in better shape for it in terms of pre-season outside of Siem and Cheick, whether they're going to be available. We'd be disappointed if they were not, but they're running well today so they could be available, and make myself an easy job for me to pick my strongest team. But we'll have to see..." So that's a pretty clear indication that if they are available, both Tiote and Siem De Jong will play, which suggests that Newcastle would line up in the following formation with De Jong as Number 10, Cabella out wide and Tiote in midfield, probably with Jack Colback: If the pair are indeed fit, that would mean that Newcastle would line up with five debutants against City, matching the record held by two games for the most debutants previously - Sheffield Wednesday at St James' in 1997 (Given, Pearce, Tomasson, Pistone, Ketsbaia) and Aston Villa at St James' in 1999 (Goma, Marcelino, Dumas, Dyer, Robinson). If the bench is as expected, we could also see bows from up to eight altogether, provided Ayoze Perez, Rolando Aarons and Facundo Ferreyra make it on to the pitch. Would you be happy for Newcastle to line up like this against Man City? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.
If the pair are indeed fit, that would mean that Newcastle would line up with five debutants against City, matching the record held by two games for the most debutants previously - Sheffield Wednesday at St James' in 1997 (Given, Pearce, Tomasson, Pistone, Ketsbaia) and Aston Villa at St James' in 1999 (Goma, Marcelino, Dumas, Dyer, Robinson). If the bench is as expected, we could also see bows from up to eight altogether, provided Ayoze Perez, Rolando Aarons and Facundo Ferreyra make it on to the pitch. Would you be happy for Newcastle to line up like this against Man City? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.