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).
I'm not blaming Perch in his entirety. However, the simple fact is that when he's in the defensive unit, it falls apart compared to our first-choice back 5. You can't deny that he heavily contributes to the problem as he's simply nowhere near as good as Saylor or Coloccini. In fact, he's very much a Championship player in my opinion.
Perch might be okay as midfield cover (imo he looks more comfortable there) but he's simply not good enough as CB cover. The fact that he's instantly on the pitch when one of our first-choice CB's is out (even if Willo is injured) is shocking. He was fortunate he mostly had to deal with two out-of-form strikers in Drogba and Torres. If he was up against a more in-form striker he would have been ****ed all over the pitch.

