Alan Pardew is confident Tiote and Yohan Cabaye will be back to their best when Newcastle take on Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby this weekend.
Alan Pardew: "They will be much better for this.
"You've got to understand that this is the Premier League, it's a different level to the Africa Cup of Nations for Cheik, and Cabaye has been out for three weeks.
"We need both of them because they are top players, we know that.
"They have been brilliant against three midfield players in the past, but in this game I thought they got bossed a bit."
Pardew said on Friday: "We are over that defeat at Spurs. It is in the past and we move on."
But yesterday he revised his comments.
"I think there were a few after-effects from the Spurs game.
"I would have liked our two full-backs to have joined in a bit more when they were in their own half.
"We were bombing forward at Spurs, leaving ourselves exposed and probably did the opposite here. But they are things we can adjust this week."
Source: FOOTYMAD
