I watched a re-run of our game on Sunday this morning. Sad I know but its a day off, I was up early and very bored. Watching live I was blinded by Cisse's movement and Ben Arfa's class to just how good Jonas, Perch and Cabaye were. Cabaye first half really got us playing. Perch throughout was outstanding, particularly after Colo went off and we had the Krul/Willo moment. West Brom really upped their tempo and pushed hard for a way back in. Perch was calm, and just picked up really good positions. Finally Jonas showed why experience is vital. He went much more narrow and played the holding midfield role after their goal. He just stemmed the flow. You can see why his teammates appreciate him. His intelligence to play such a fluid role, and be able to adjust positionally dependant on the game situ is a managers dream. There is a lot of talk about our policy on older players. The board have shown real nous to see the value in Colo and Jonas by tieing them down to new contracts.
Aye, sometimes it helps watching reruns to appreciate all the things you didn't see. I'd like to watch it myself if I had time and the footage. In regard to James Perch, we've all just been cracking jokes over him since he arrived but for a few weeks now he's been consistently putting in performances, even earlier in the season he was by no means the worst defender in a make shift back four. He's definitely very versatile and gets the job done without moaning. Peoeple will boo'ing him at one point but he wasn't distracted so I've been really impressed by his character. he's a useful player to have, no matter what people say, we need to hang onto him. Granted he hasn't started many games, but he's racked up quite a few appearances this season, probably around 20, which probably puts him top of the subs, Obertan aside. We need a squad, and Obertan, Guthrie, Shola are very much part of that squad. I'm struggling to see where Gosling fits in however, but I guess we do need 4 central midfielders in the squad. I think the only reason Willo is picked ahead of Perch is his height, Coloccini struggles at times with the tall players and Willo is of course tall, but apart from that, effort position and tackling wise, Perch is ahead of Willo in my book.
Perch was class, and has been all season really. Worth keeping hold of for cover across the back 4 and CM. Don't mind him as third choice full-back, 5th choice CB and 4/5th choice CM. Very reliable
Originally Posted by Suarez dribbling Newcastle have not finished above Liverpool in the league for many many years..and they aren't likely to do that this year. Now I'm not going to count my chickens this was on Liverpool board now IF things go our way this could be another one of those posts "looks like another championship etc"
