The Toon gaffer relegated Hatem Ben Arfa and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa to the bench for the clash in Cardiff – and insisted nobody was guaranteed a starting place in the months ahead.
Eyebrows were raised by some observers when Ben Arfa was told he was not in the starting XI on Friday.
Ben Arfa has a history of reacting negatively after being dropped and has also had bitter feuds with ex-managers like Didier Deschamps and Laurent Blanc.
Pardew, though, says he will continue to use his squad rotation policy.
Alan Pardew: “It always is. It is important everybody is pulling together and trying to achieve the victory.
“Jonas Gutierrez came off the bench.
“We had not seen him for a while, but he did a great little job for us.
“So did Hatem, which was even more important.”