FABRICIO Coloccini is set to make his seasonal debut for Newcastle United tonight.
And Cheik Tiote and Papiss Demba Cisse could also be involved when Alan Pardew’s side face Monaco in Landsberg am Lech.
Coloccini, Tiote, Cisse and Sylvain Marveaux watched Friday night’s 1-0 defeat to German third division side Chemnitzer from the stands along with Steven Taylor, who has a slight hamstring strain.
However, Pardew says he will name a stronger side to face Claudio Ranieri’s team, with Coloccini keen to hit the ground running ahead of what promises to be a demanding campaign at home and abroad.
“We have a harder game coming up, so we’ll play a more experienced side,” Pardew told the Gazette.
“We played a young side (against Chemnitzer), but nobody did themselves anything but favours.”
The Chemnitzer game saw summer signings Romain Amalfitano and Gael Bigirimana make their first appearances for the club.
“Romain played the full game, and Gael got 20 minutes,” added Pardew. “It was our first real look at them, and for the fans too.
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Pardew happy with Newcastle run-out
“They’re settling in well, and we’re exactly where we should be at this stage of the season.”
Around 150 United fans made the journey to Chemnitzer, many having set off before the game was confirmed by the club, whose pre-season has been hurriedly put together after the cancellation of a tournament in South Africa.
And Newcastle are expected to be backed by more supporters at the 5,000-capacity home of TSV Landsberg.
“They’ve made a long journey,” said Pardew. “It’s amazing to see them this far out here. We had a few German-based fans here too, so it is nice to see that we have friends here too.”
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