Newcastle: Alan Pardew's 8 Biggest Head Aches Right Now

6. Dummett Or Haidara?

With all of his centre-halves fit, Pardew usually shifts Paul Dummett out to the left to help continue his "football education", but the Geordie is simply not the best left-back at the club. His positional naivety is shown up badly when he's not on the ball, and he isn't comfortable marking space, as well as being mostly useless going forward. Massadio Haidara meanwhile impresses every time he comes into the team, and his performance against West Brom is worth more than being immediately dropped. The Answer The real answer is to play Haidara at left-back: he is quick, tough and athletic and he is far more valuable going forward, which adds balance with Janmaat on the right. But for some reason, he's not fancied as a long-term solution and he seems destined to drift in and out of the team for now. Dummett will more than likely end up back at full-back, even as his impressive form in the middle continues. It's there in Pardew's language already.