Newcastle need their big guns to start firing as they head up to fortress Goodison Park today. As Mark Douglas reports, Alan Pardew reckons Papiss Cisse is showing signs that he's back to his best.

CONTRARY to popular opinion, the international break wasn’t all bad for Newcastle United.

While it may have cost Alan Pardew two of his blue-chip players thanks to the vagaries of Holland and Argentina’s respective training schedules, there was much better news from Abidjan and the African Nations Cup.

Not so much the fact that Ivory Coast look set to expel Senegal from January’s finals – thus saving Pardew the problem of trying to find another striker to cover for Demba’s Ba and Papiss Cisse – but more the latter’s wonderful goal in the 4-2 win for Elephants.

If you haven’t seen it yet, get straight onto YouTube. The footage is grainy and the camera angle not particularly conducive to capturing a magic moment but nonetheless, the pedigree of Cisse’s goal is there to see.

Grabbing a few yards on his marker, the Newcastle striker manages to rise above the Ivorian defender to connect with a long, raking through ball and send a looping header into the back of the net from outside the penalty box.

From some 30 yards, it is truly remarkable – something that we just haven’t seen from Cisse in four anaemic performances so far this season.

There has been plenty of talk about the stars of last term not performing to their potential, but Pardew believes that Cisse is a confidence player, and reckons that goals will breed goals with the Senegalese striker.

To be honest, Pardew has probably tired of sending out warnings about the double Dembas. A few weeks ago he warned them that their under-par displays would not be tolerated and he is fully aware of the alarming statistic that the two forwards have not scored in the same game since their first match together against Aston Villa.

The good news is that Pardew has already discerned a spring in Cisse’s step, a bulletin that will come as music to the ears of the Newcastle manager.

If Cisse could perform with the same sort of flair that he did last season it would be a timely boost for Newcastle as they face an eminently tricky week that begins tonight at Goodison Park.

“Have you seen the goal? It was an unbelievable goal,” he said. “It was as audacious as it was at Chelsea, in terms of what he did. All of our younger players have been watching it on YouTube, they can’t quite believe it. He has got a spring in his step with a goal like that, it enhances your own belief. And I think that has happened.”