Opening games are so often all about renewal and reinvention. Hopes rise and ambition reignites as new faces promise to create all sorts of exciting possibilities but the customary sense of optimism failed to engulf Tyneside on Sunday.
It was nothing to do with the quality of Newcastle United’s recruits – or even Alan Pardew’s enduring presence in the dugout. Instead thoughts turned to absent friends, to lights extinguished as flight MH17 was shot down in the skies above eastern Ukraine last month.
Among those who lost their lives were John Alder and Liam Sweeney, two Newcastle loyalists en route to New Zealand where Pardew’s squad were on summer tour. As their seats stayed empty, a minute’s pre-kick-off applause preceded another minute’s silence and wreaths were presented in the centre circle with Sunderland’s ambassador and FA Cup winning hero of 1973, Jim Montgomery, offering Liam Sweeney’s parents his arms as the stadium shared a tiny fraction of their grief.
There has been bad feeling between Newcastle and Sunderland in recent years, something manifested by sporadically appalling violence following Tyne-Wear derbies, but the Wearside club and their fans have offered staunch support to the bereaved families and there is a sense that this tragedy will mark a watershed in local relations. Montgomery’s presence spoke of a rapprochement extending well beyond the respective boardrooms.
Dizzyingly as the action swung from end to end, thoughts wandered away from the pitch and, in the 17th minute, the ground broke into spontaneous applause once more in recognition of that Malaysian Airlines flight number.
Down in the dugout Pardew’s bench joined in. His staff would have also remembered Aidan Brunger and Neil Dalton, the two Newcastle University medical students murdered in Borneo at the end of a work placement. Another placement last season had seen Brunger assigned to the club’s medical team and he became a familiar face at Newcastle’s training ground.
“Our staff got to know Aidan so it was especially difficult news to digest,” Pardew said. “Our condolences go to the family’s of all four lost souls.”
Newcastle – and, sometimes, their manager – have done a lot wrong in recent seasons but this was an important tribute they had got absolutely right. Moreover the sombre edge probably helped ensure there would be no repeat of events during last year’s equivalent fixture when Pardew became so incensed about some supposed petty transgression on the part of his opposite number that he called a rather mystified Manuel Pellegrini a “fucking old cunt”.
In contrast this was all about polite handshakes, the maintenance of respectful distances and low-key questioning of the fourth official. Pardew even seemed to refrain from swearing to himself when David Silva shot City ahead.
Otherwise Newcastle performed brightly enough to make the end of last season – and that ghastly run of seven defeats in their last eight Premier League games – a bad dream.
It seemed hard to believe that the crowd had turned so vitriolic during the final home match of last term – a 3-0 home win against Cardiff – that Pardew was penned back into his dug-out, not daring to venture into his technical area lest he provoke wholesale revolt.
Newcastle’s manager now hopes that nine summer signings, although two were immediately loaned out, will change the narrative and certainly whenever Rémy Cabella was in possession a frisson of electricity rippled through the stands.
Bought from Montpellier for around £12m, the France midfielder with the seriously dodgy haircut may not quite be the new Yohan Cabaye but he certainly has a trick or three. Attacking from wide Cabella looked a game changer, someone capable of switching the lights on.
Emmanuel Rivière, the former Monaco striker, commanded around a third of Cabella’s fee but he, too, looked lively, frequently showing off a menacing change of pace before, all too often, letting himself down with a snatched final delivery. Only a lack of composure stood between Rivière and a debut goal as City defended stoutly but Pardew’s frustration at far too many wayward final balls will have been offset by several promising touches by two other new boys, Jack Colback and Daryl Janmaat.
Much more three-dimensional than last season while still making sure they got in City’s faces, Newcastle contributed some very encouraging cameos, frequently striking a healthy balance between ambition and sensibility.
If the impressive Colback did more than enough to suggest he is one former Sunderland player who can bridge the Tyne-Wear divide successfully, the Holland right-back indicated that Mathieu Debuchy’s summertime defection to Arsenal could prove irrelevant. An excellent crosser of the ball, Janmaat sometimes needs to remember when to defend but looks a smart acquisition.
Having restocked the armoury after keeping Pardew in the post last May, Mike Ashley has no appetite for sacking his manager but the owner’s £30m-plus refurb has, nonetheless, removed any excuses for under-achievement.
Losing narrowly to the Champions certainly does not spell failure but Pardew will be keen to ensure Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa and the following weekend’s home game against Crystal Palace produce the hard currency of shots on target and actual points.
However, on this evidence there is every chance Newcastle’s manager will begin September smiling – provided, of course, he refrains from headbutting Roy Keane in Villa Park’s technical area.