Saylor and Perch or Willo and Colo?

I hate the fact that Coloccini is out as well, but, tbh, I'd personally rather we had Perch and Saylor as our first choice pair for our up coming games, than Colo and Willo, which is the pair we would play if Saylor was out.

So I'd personally prefer to have Colo out at this moment, than Saylor.

With Saylor you get easily the best defender we have in the air, and the physically strongest by far, out of all of our defenders. Perch isn't as good as Colo, but he's quick and pacey, which is useful in that CB position, and he's a bit like Colo in the sense that his decision making is usually very good, and his tackling quite precise.

I like the look of Saylor and Perch over Willo and Colo. With Willo and Colo you'll have our best all round CB, but no real strength, and not a great pair for aerial ability either. It can get muscled off the ball, and long balls catch it out too easily. Williamson is canny in the air. He can make some good aerial interceptions, but once it's over his head, then his severe lack of pace chasing the ball is deadly. Colo sometimes lets himself get caught out by long balls as well.

Saylor and Perch are a solid pair of CB's. So tbh, try to look at the bright side.

Against the likes of Fellaini and Jelavic, Willo and Colo could very easily be slaughtered.

 

Simply put, 1 of our first choice centre backs is unquestioned. It then becomes a case of Perch vs Willo since we don't want to see Saylor + Willo or Colo + Perch.

Result = Perch

since Perch is the better player on a direct comparison to Willo.

 

It's not as simple as that though. You can't always play your best two available CB's. I wouldn't play Perch and Colo together, there's total lack of Aerial threat and height. I wouldn't play Saylor and Willo together. Neither have real ability on the ball.

You need two CB's that compliment each other.

If Saylor was injured, I wouldn't play Perch in his place, it would have to be Willo.

 

I know, I've seen that argument of yours and I don't disagree. But I feel like when you compare these 2 pairings, the deciding factor to me is going to be Perch or Willo is better since we can't fault either Saylor or Colo.

 

When fit it's always going to be Saylor and Colo.

However, Pards gets a decent little number for making the choice so I'd just leave it up to him.

In Pards I trust.

 

What about pairing Willo and Perch,2 negatives cancel each other out and you end up with a plus

 

Very sensible, but with an attitude like that what are we going to talk about all day ?

 

Um, I think the concept is that Saylor and Willo are similar types of defenders, but Saylor is better.

 

The weather?

 

Well that's the Big G's department. In Yahweh I trust

 

I myself would absolutely pick Perch over Williamson for centre half. In my opinion, Perchy's position is Defensive Midfield and Right Back second and then a makeshift centre half and I'd still play him ahead of Willo.

 

Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.

 

Nice one, Edgar Allen Poo

 

I see what you did there!

 

Colo/Perch and Colo/Williamson are decent premier league pairings because Colo plays a bit like a sweeper at times and can make up for mistakes. Steven Taylor, on form, is an incredible defender and one of my favourite players, but I can't remember him playing with Perch or Willo before...?

Willo we signed for what 2 million, and he's ok as a back-up, but he's not the most talented footballer to say the least. He's not particularly intelligent on the pitch either ("stop pulling his shirt" means "try harder to pull his shirt off like it's some (thirty year-olds acting out a) teen sex scene"). Perch on the other hand has surprised me, and while I wouldn't call him pacey or particularly agile, he's not got Willo's turning circle of a U-boat and is sharper in the tackle. Ideally we should have signed someone in the window, as it was nailed to the mast that one CB would be down sooner or later, but oh well.

Let's just hope Santon and Simpson/Anita are on form and stop a few crosses.

 

Against Everton I'd go with Williamson and Taylor purely because Everton are very direct, they pump long balls up to Fellaini and Jelavic and only start to play on the deck once their forwards have won the initial aerial battle and the second ball. If we win either of the first two battles on more occasions than we lose them we'll win the game, and for me Williamson and Taylor are best suited to deal with this threat.

 

Believe Saylor and Willo played together against Man City the day HBA got his leg broken. Not a good day for Willo.

 

Saylor played with Perch once before the game early this season.

Anyway, I don't think Pardew will play Willo and Saylor together.

I think he'll bring Willo on as an extra CB later in the game, as well as Shola, if we're defending a result.