James Perch

It's negative to slag off perch based on preconceptions when he played well

 

well do ok I'm sure but this is the perfect opportunity to get Santon involved. I mean he just is better than Perch regardless of how well Perch is today. The only way Santon will adapt is through playing and these games are ideal for me. He will get better where as Perch was at his peak today and won't ever get any better.

 

Hes **** and I won't detract from that, however he did ok today but that's all. Santon has more potential and will get better only by playing.

 

Who are you anyway? Steve Bruce. If you really think Perch should be starting over Santon you must be. Despite my tone that's what I've been getting at the whole time.

 

I dont want to make a thread about it but does anyone else think Obertan plays better in the away games because the home crowd dont get on his back whenever he makes a mistake? We must be some of the worst fans to play in front of for a "confidence player".

 

he was poor today but Ashley Coles just to good for him. He just seems afraid to just run at the defense sometimes. I agree and hopefully he'll have more success against poorer sides.

 

Aye he didnt play well but he was never going to get much change out of Cole.

 

I must have been to a different game today. I don't think Perch was half as bad as some people are making him out to have been. Fair enough he's had his share of stinkers and been pretty woeful in the past, but he wasn't bad enough to be singled out to have been the reason we got beat.

 

Of course not that was Mike Dean.

 

Let me point, once again to the cold, hard and consistent facts:

And people are claiming that Perch "kept quiet" Drogba and Torres, who happen to be two players grossly out of form. Drogba scored his first goal out of 9 apps this season today, and Torres has scored 2 goals in 10 apps this season. They kept themselves quiet.

Let's be honest. We have a first-choice back 5 which is a very well organised unit. When they're all in place, we barely concede. However, once Perch enters the fray, we concede an awful lot. This isn't just against EPL teams, but teams like Blackburn and Nottingham Forest. This may not necessarily be because he's a technically poor footballer. He may simply not have the intelligence to work with the unit in the same way Saylor or Colo does. He's out of his depth mentally and physically.

I couldn't care less whether you want to blame Perch for being ****, or blame Pardew for choosing him. The simple fact is that he isn't good enough, and I don't think it's coincidence anymore that on THREE separate occasions, once Perch has entered, our defensive ability as a whole has faltered dramatically. It simply disturbs the very tight defensive unit we usually have.

I'm not blaming Perch for the loss. I'm blaming him (perhaps in part, at least) for conceding an incredibly high number of goals whenever he plays. 3.3 goals conceded per game is stark contrast to 0.78.

And people can defend him with various reasons all they like. It doesn't detract from the fact that he shouldn't be there. Blame who you like, but he should, not, be, there.

 

He's 4th choice centre back and our absolute last option, he's not going to be brilliant is he?

And the only goal he was at fault for today was the first one, like it or not.

 

He's ****, simple as that! No place for sentiment in football.

 

We're hardly sentimental towards him. Although sentiment is all that appears to be keeping Raylor in the team.

 

He doesn't have to be directly at fault. It can be a number of very small influences. For example, he could be in the wrong positions, even only slightly, and stretch other defenders too much. It's the little inadequacies in his play which mount up.

Personally, I'd put Santon and Gosling above Perch. Both players have defensive knowledge, and whilst they may be getting played out of position, Perch is apparently playing out of position too. People claim he's a 'utility man', but being fairly crap in every position doesn't make him a utility man.

Even beyond that though, there should be another CB in the mix already. We have two standard CB's. If one gets injured, there's Williamson (who's half as good as the first choice already). Once he's out, we're down to Perch.

 

Cause and effect - I think it's grossly unfair to blame Perch for all of this:

Firstly - The two cup games we were playing a weakened first 11 - people like Rob Elliot were playing and key players weren't - one went into extra time when everyone was knacked. So to say the 7 goals in those games were solely down to playing Perch is harsh in the extreme.

Second - today, you can blame Perch for the first goal if you like, but goals 2 and 3 came when we had only 2 fit natural defenders on the pitch, playing with 10 men, and we were pushing forward to try and get a draw - those goals are anomalies and so again I don't think any individual is to blame.

You can get stats to say whatever you want them to say, but you have to look at the substance for them to be useful.

I'm not saying Perch is great, far from it, but credit where it's due he's put in a good shift today, and in fact a good shift in the other games he's come on in this season (the assist in Man C game for example).

 

Perch will play the next 3 games so we'll see what your all saying after that.

 

Well if he plays like today and has Colo as a partner I think we'll be ok against Norwich and Swansea. But who knows, he might drop some clangers like he did last season.

 

He wont, after the next match Willo is back from injury and will no doubt be back in the starting line up.

 

He's better at CB or maybe CM, but I'd look to sell him anyway. I'm just saying we know he's bad, but he cant be blamed for defeats just because of that.

No excuses though, we should have better cover and hopefully will get it in January.

 

Colo's out for a little while as well.