Newcastle 1-0 Norwich: 6 Things We Learned

4. Anita Currently Better At Right Back

The opening 10 minutes on Sunday were very scrappy but Norwich were the better team; they held possession well and harried Newcastle€™s midfield, specifically Vurnon Anita, into mistakes, misplaced passes or just muscled him off the ball. It didn€™t take Alan Pardew long to change things and swapped James Perch at right back for Anita in the centre of the park (a swap that€™s been made 2 or 3 times before). Perch is more physical than the Dutchman and was able to cope with Norwich€™s midfield 5 better, although Hoolahan still caused a few problems at the back. Anita also looked more comfortable at right back, he had more time on the ball to pick out a pass but far too often his choice was a diagonal ball up to the front 2 which was often unsuccessful. He didn€™t have much to do defensively (he only made 1 tackle) but it seems the pace of the Premier League is still too much for him to be effective in midfield. He was replaced by Tiote in the 76th minute and Perch dropped to right back once more.