Eddie Howe feels that Anthony Gordon will get the perfect start to his Newcastle United career - by taking on a watching brief from the stands for the League Cup semi-finals against Southampton.
The incoming £45million man is cup-tied after playing for Everton in the 4-1 loss at AFC Bournemouth last year and can't face the Saints. It means his debut will come against West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday night.
Howe said: "It will be a really useful experience for him tomorrow to sample the atmosphere. "It's totally different when you're watching from the stands than it is to playing and feeling it on the pitch, but it will give him an idea of what's in store for him.
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"It is going to be potentially a season-defining game, although we are not trying to focus on it that way."
Howe has discussed his philosophy going into the clash against Southampton with Newcastle 1-0 up from the first leg. Saints boss Nathan Jones has warned Newcastle not to get too complacent going into the biggest match in years on Tyneside.
Howe added: "You have to look at it as an independent game. "Yes, we have a 1-0 lead, but if you focus on that too much before the game or that becomes part of your psychology, then you're in trouble.
"You go into protection mode and we don't want that, we want to express ourselves in the game and we have to look at it as a league game. We're a game away from a final, which would be an amazing moment for us, but we haven't achieved it yet and we've got a lot of work to do to get there, so it's about staying in the moment, not getting ahead of ourselves."
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