Alan Pardew: “There’s a lot of things about the players I don’t know in terms of the new ones, in terms of what we’re going to get when we have a setback.
"I was pleased when we conceded the first goal because I thought our reaction after the first goal was fantastic.
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“Those things I have to learn about the new players, they have to learn about me and how I work, all of that takes time.
"There’s many quotes from many Premier League managers about players needing to settle a little bit.
"We’ve got to introduce a lot of new players and that has to be taken a little bit into consideration in the first ten games. I still think we’re going to be a good side this year.
“It’s always important (to put on a show of unity) … we had a difficult time at the back end of last season, but a lot of Premier League sides did and it’s important to put things in to perspective, which I think we have.
“We’ve signed some good players and now it’s a question of getting results that give us a confidence to grow.
"Results give you confidence. We’ll have got a certain confidence, but it’s good to get wins, especially with new players, you need that confidence in each other. That’s what we’re looking at: the next game, we’re looking to win it.
“I don’t think it’s a setback. I honestly think we’ve come up against individuals we’re not going to see every week. Some of their play is outstanding and you only have to see it close up to know the quality of Nasri, Silva, the power of Yaya Toure, and Dzeko up front is a real handful.
“I thought we coped with it as well as we could have. When you play the top teams you need a break, there’s no doubt about that.
"Whenever I’ve won against the top sides, you get a break in the game. It didn’t happen for us, we didn’t get a ricochet or anything that fell our away, but I’m kind of as pleased as I can be with a 2-0 defeat.
“We’re still missing Papiss Cisse and Siem de Jong (through injury), two massive players for us that we’ve paid a financial outlay on.
“We feel they’re big, big players. So, no, I feel that once they’re in and around the squad as well we’re going to be difficult and I think we’ll score goals. I think Siem will be close next week.”