Steve Bruce has played down any suggestion that fielding Joe Willock from the start was deemed a risk.
Willock had only played 48 minutes of pre-season action with Arsenal and has not appeared for three weeks.
But Bruce handed him 90 minutes against Aston Villa before replacing him late in the day with Ryan Fraser.
When asked about Willock's fitness Bruce said: "Why was it a surprise?
"When is he going to play minutes?
"He's a fit lad who has trained all summer, he hasn't played nearly enough minutes but I never thought I was at risk with him because of the fitness levels Joe has got."
Newcastle now face a midweek League Cup second round test against Burnley when Bruce is expected to make some changes to his side.
However, with two Premier League defeats in the first two games, reaching the third round of the cup represents the club's best chance of reaching the latter stages of one of the domestic cups, which may pacify supporters after a bad start to the campaign.
At Villa Park, fans did not turn on the team or head coach Bruce and many of them instead voted with their feet by leaving slightly early.
