If Newcastle had more than three centre-halves at the club, there would be no question of dropping either Fabricio Coloccini and/or Mike Williamson. Unfortunately though, the first choice pairing are protected by the fact that their only competition other than the kids is Steven Taylor who mysteriously didn't make the bench against Swansea. But it is beyond question that the centre-backs are massively under-performing. Williamson is Williamson - he is a solid stopper, and reads the ball reasonably well, but his heading is poor (no power, no direction) and his passing is not of a Premier League quality - but it is Coloccini who is the biggest disappointment. The Argentinian has looked off the pace this season, and worse his positional sense and ball-reading - his two greatest facets usually - have been completely off. For the first goal against Swansea he was undone by ball-watching, befuddled by a simple one-two that he shouldn't have been sold on, and though he was helpless for the second, his influence on Williamson was a problem. When Sissoko was allegedly fouled by Sigurdsson (he wasn't, as it happens) on the edge of his own box, Coloccini instinctively put his hand up in the air. Unaware of anything else around him, Williamson copied his captain, and allowed Wayne Routledge to waltz in behind him without so much as a challenge. Both defenders should have played to the whistle, and if they had, Routledge would not have got in. And away from the goals, Coloccini spends way too much time being sucked out of his centre-back berth, chasing strikers out, or ending up near the touch-line, with Paul Dummett sold down the river to cover the vacuum, or Williamson stepping up to try and cover the entire middle of the back-line. And if Coloccini fails in his tackle - which he does more than he ever has to date - the rest of the defence is badly exposed. The answer usually would be to drop Coloccini, or at least let him know his position was perilous, but thanks to the lack of any competition at all, Coloccini is completely protected, and any complacency will continue unabated. So, unfortunately, just as Alan Pardew is allowed to continue as his mistakes continue to mount up, so too is his captain, when he deserves to be pulled out of the first team to teach him a lesson.
