Cautious Optimism At Last?

Last time Newcastle prepared to welcome Hull City for a Premier League clash, the preparations were under an entire sky of storm clouds.

August ended with the resignation of Kevin Keegan after Dennis Wise's free reign over transfer dealings saw him replace James Milner with Uruguayan midfielder Nacho Gonzalez and Spanish striker Xisco.

The international break allowed feelings of resentment towards Newcastle owner Mike Ashley to stew and build up into a huge crescendo for the first game after the resignation. Protests against Ashley were made before, during and after the game.

Chief among them was a giant "COCKNEY MAFIA OUT" banner directed at the board, which some fans think led to player distraction in the run up to Hull City's second goal.

A dark mood for Toon fans was made worse when a bare bones squad handed Hull their first Premier League away win and midfielder Danny Guthrie ended chances of a comeback by being sent off for a pointless kick on Tiger Craig Fagan.

Hull eventually finished 2008-09 all of a single point above Newcastle, which sent the Toon and their unwanted owner down.

The trajectories of Hull and Newcastle since then have taken differing paths, with Newcastle running away with the 2009-10 Championship while Hull were slinking out of the top flight.

Last season saw Hull just slide under the sliding door Indiana Jones-style into the Premier League, while Newcastle were just about able to evade falling in the other direction.

But despite a surprisingly quiet summer at St James' Park, optimism is higher this time. While Ashley is still around - and still largely loathed - September 2013 feels like a happier place than September 2008.

Chief among this is the fact that the squad appears more solidly assembled this time around.

Alan Pardew came in for heavy criticism for some of his squad and tactical decisions in the 2012-13 campaign. Perhaps guided by injuries and availability, he seems to have stumbled across a new formation to use for this new season.

It is just as well as things didn't have such an optimistic touch at half-time in the clubs 3rd game of the season against Fulham. Although the team had actually began troubling the goalkeeper in the game against the Cottagers, there was little to indicate the team could actually score.

This followed up two dreadful afternoons for the Black and Whites, with all of one shot on target in an opening day mauling by Manchester City followed up by a dour goalless draw with West Ham one week later.

Luckily, tactical modifications allowed the team to play with a hint of attacking freedom against the Cottagers. On another day, the Toon could have put five past Fulham and could well have done had the posts, crossbars, goalkeeper, posts and terrible finishing.

The modifications saw a change in system, with subs Yohan Cabaye, Loic Remy and Yoann Gouffran supporting Hatem Ben Arfa. Before then, Papiss Cisse and Shola Ameobi cut frustrated figures in a system that struggled to provide service.

It had been worse against West Ham in the Toon's first opening encounter, which saw the team manage zero shots on target - although Gouffran somehow managed to miss an open goal - but it took a change to shake the team out of similar problems against them.

The modification eventually yielded reward. But as well as reward it also hinted at a possible future change to the system, with players given markedly different roles to the ones they didn't seem comfortable in last year.

All of this was shown last weekend at Villa Park, where the team put in a more solid performance to neuter a Villa team that showed remarkably little of what handed them plaudits following their opening three.

The team's performance did well, with the centre backs doing well to stop Christian Benteke from being as effective as he has been, and the full backs coping alright with the twin wide threats of Gabby Agbonlahor and Andreas Weimann.

The midfield also looked more solid, which is not a good argument for Cheick Tiote and Jonas Gutierrez's first choice places from last season. Vurnon Anita and Moussa Sissoko did very well to break up Villa's midfield - although they were helped by an off-colour Villa trio - and a foundation for Yohan Cabaye to support the forward three.

It wasn't a perfect performance at Villa. There is still work to be done on Papiss Cisse, who has not scored since April 7th - last minute goal against Fulham at SJP - and has not really looked like scoring in the meantime.

The final third ball was also a little suspect at times, with Newcastle's most productive moves coming from runs by Hatem Ben Arfa. It helped Villa full back Antonio Luna was remarkably unable to cope with the Newcastle number 10, but Ben Arfa was a very potent threat.

Final third balls from other players, however, were not as soildly productive. Cabaye in particular got a couple wrong, although his lack of match fitness in the wake of petty and needless strike action may not have helped.

Nevertheless, the game provided reasons to be cheerful. Chief among them is the fact Pardew has rediscovered tactics that the team do well with, and was also able to calculate when to make the right subs. The arrival of Gouffran will be highlighted as he replaced the tiring Remy to score the winning goal, but well calculated as well were the arrivals of Tiote and Sammy Ameobi.

The former's combative presence was able to help continue the stifling tactic on Newcastle's midfield, while Ameobi's arrival was able to help the team keep the ball in the Villa half when it was needed.

With the team finally seeming promise, today's game with the Tigers could be further springboard.

Steve Bruce's record at St. James' Park is not the best, with just one win as a visiting manager - with Birmingham City in 2003 - and his last appearance in their away dugout saw his Sunderland team handed a 5-1 trouncing in the Tyne-Wear Derby.

Nevertheless, his Tigers team will not be easy opponents. They were close to following Cardiff City to an upset against Manchester City and their promotion to the Premier League in 2012-13 was built on firm defensive foundations.

However, if the trend of improving performances after opening day humiliation in Manchester continues, then it bodes well for this afternoon's outing. It also reinforces the fact that things are steadily improving for the Magpies.