4. James Perch Is Strong Enough Back-Up
The loss of Fabricio Coloccini to injury had many Newcastle fans complaining about the lack of transfer movement in the defensive market this summer (albeit despite the acquisition of Curtis Good), but the Magpies do still have four senior centre-halves at the club with the returning Steven Taylor joining Mike Williamson and utility man James Perch as the available options for yesterday's game. As it was, the former Nott'm Forest man got the nod to play alongside an imperious Taylor, who looked as good as he did last season before his injury, and Perch put in another strong shift in a position supposedly not his strongest. Perch was always going to be a better option than Williamson, whose lack of pace is a problem, and would have been shown up by Jermain Defoe, but few fans would have guessed that Perch would look quite so confident at centre-back as he did when facing Spurs' attacks. The Londoners may have been toothless in comparison to last season's 5-0 annihilation of the Toon down at White Hart Lane, but they still packed some potency, especially when Defoe was on the ball and Perch coped very well. He looked assured and steady, not afraid to put his foot in and competent heading the ball away, if not quite as strongly as team-mate Taylor.