6 Questions Mike Ashley Must Answer About Alan Pardew

5. Why Hasn't The Coaching Set-Up Been Changed?

For what feels like multiple years, Newcastle's threat at set pieces has been woefully inadequate. Even when Yohan Cabaye was at the club and Ryan Taylor was fit, the team still could not master the simplicities of strong set-piece organisation, and as such have been stripped of a very valuable asset in goal scoring. Too often long balls are sent in to the back post towards Mike Williamson - a player unable to direct or add power to his headers - in the vein hope that someone will pick up the knock-down that never comes. The question here is why Pardew's coaching set-up have been allowed to continue their fruitless approach to set-pieces when it is so obviously not working. When the manager cannot see it, surely someone else higher at the club could shake some sense into him if he really must stay.