NewCastle United - Giants in Coma

I am disappointed with the performance of NewCastle United. Always called as the sleeping giants, I have started to wonder if they have are 'Giants in Coma'. Whenever I look at the team line up, I fail to find a reason why this team fails to deliver. Last month, it lost matches to Blackburne, Reading, drew with ManU and Arsenal whereas I feel that they should have run riot in 4 out of last 7 or 8 matches.

Ever since Alan Shearer has retired, I am note sure how successful the team has been. I dont even know what kind of team building efforts these people have. It is not important to have a team full of big names like Barca or Chelsea. All that you need is a team, like Sevilla. You want your team to play as a unit, understand each other and above all, behave like a team, not just off the pitch, but also on the pitch.

I am hardly in a place to comment on what is going wrong. However, I feel there are some basic things wrong about this team.
1. Defence sucks.
It is only my opinion, but I am pretty convinced that Newcastle United has one of the worst back-lines in the premier league and Europe. I have seen them concede so many times that it seems as if the defense lacks the depth. It lacks that level of expertise. I am not sure if I will attribute this to inexperience/lack of skill. It may be more of lack of proper coaching or lack of clarity of purpose. As the season ends, I would have sacked the coach only on the basis of the number of times we conceded.
2. Midfield is not aggressive.
I have watched the matches a couple of times, and I have found that the midfield is not very fast. They are fast, but they have to be faster. They have to have that mentality to score on the counter. All the successful teams are deadly on counter. Juve still is, even after losing Ibrahimovic. This is where I appreciate the likes of Rooney, Ronaldo; and that is where Man U are doing so good. And that is what Tottenham addressed by getting Barbatov(dont know if intentionally). They should learn something from German soccer. I feel German soccer is amazing on counter, especially Podolski and Klose.
3. No Poachers!
I think this is something very basic that has gone wrong. Newcastle has no poachers. Every successful team needs one. Look at what Inzaghi did to Liverpool in UEFA CL final! Martins and Owen try to do that, but why are they unable to do well? Look at #1 and #2. They are needed behind the central line after some time.
4. Strategy sucks.
At best, I have seen some hint of players knowing what they should be doing!?!? Most of the time, they are simple random bunch of blokes trying to get their hands on the ball or looking to retain it. Either there is a lot of communication gap or most of the time the strategies are misfiring. Only people in the dressing room know the truth.

I hope someone from NewCastle United is reading it and above all, someone in a position to act is reading this blog. I dont say sack the coach, probably communication lessons are enough.

It is a little disheartening to see that one of my favorite clubs is going further down in the table. Don't know what's the plan for the new season. Hope there is something planned to address all the above issues.