Newcastle: 10 Major Mistakes Pardew Has Made In 2014

8. Persisting With Paul Dummett

He might be a Geordie, and thus for some reason more worthy of praise than any other nationality of player in Newcastle's line-up apparently, but Paul Dummett is the third best left-back at the club at the minute. Even ignoring the claims of Davide Santon - who seems to have suffered the kind of mysterious injury that only afflicts players on the verge of being sold quietly - both Massadio Haidara and Vurnon Anita are better left-backs than the North Eastern Welsh international. His decision making is probably worse than Steven Talyor's, his attacking threat is precisely zero for 90% of the time, and his positional sense is catastrophic at times. He might be passionate, which goes along way with managers like Pardew, but he also invites way too much pressure down the left, and makes whoever plays in front of him look bad, unless they're willing to do as much running as Yoan Gouffran is. Simply put, he should not be in the first team as anything other than a back-up to the back-ups.