Ayoze Perez opinions

mitchscorpio
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Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by mitchscorpio » Mon Dec 07, 2020 4:46 pm

Hi guys, I’m a Leicester City fan and aspiring football writer currently working on a piece focusing on Ayoze Perez - looking back on his 18 months with the Foxes and also thinking about what the future could hold for him.

I’m really keen to include some thoughts and opinions from Newcastle fans in the article, specifically:

- Individual & overall opinions on his Newcastle career, performances & impact.

- His best position / role within the Newcastle team of the time.

- Individual & overall reactions to LCFC’s interest and eventual transfer in July 2019, including the fee.

Would welcome any and all contributions, and any featured will be credited as required, whether under your forum username or real name, whichever you’d prefer.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

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biggeordiedave
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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by biggeordiedave » Mon Dec 07, 2020 9:06 pm

Welcome <gent>

Undoubtedly a very good player, but the thing that always annoyed me about Perez was that he was too easily knocked off the ball. I've had a look back through my comments about Perez over the years and they're generally positive. I wrote about him as an obviously talented, it not a bit inexperienced (at the time) player, and one of the few players I would have kept out of some of our shambolic squads. I was far more critical of his physicality when we were in the Championship. Although he scored 12 goals (41 apps) in all competitions that season, I expected a bit more from him.

In his last season, he was obviously one of the stand out players and had a great partnership with Rondon. I wasn't surprised when Leicester came in for him and I think the time was right for him to move on as even he admitted he didn't want to stay at Newcastle.

As for his best position you will probably get a few different opinions. I think he's best just behind the striker. He doesn't have the right qualities to play as a striker on his own, but I think he works well behind a powerful player like Rondon or Vardy as we saw at the weekend. I don't rate him as a winger as he would often go missing when he was played there.
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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by Colly » Mon Dec 07, 2020 9:14 pm

I think behind a striker or as part of a front 3 he's fine, obviously you'll get more goals from the former but he always put the work in if he was wider. I think people underestimate how good his goal return was given how defensively we played under Benitez, with a creative midfield he could have got a lot more.

It was the right time for him to go though, no player should have to stay at Newcastle that long.

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by Remember Colo » Tue Dec 08, 2020 12:39 am

Agree with BGD and Colly, he's best played as a second striker, who can poach off someone who holds the ball up well (not really Vardy's strength). He's not a creator though, so shouldn't be viewed as a CAM, nor a winger, in positions where he'd be expected to create chances for others. I think had we kept more possession and had more partners like Rondon for him - he'd definitely been more productive scoring around the box and finishing chances. Instead he was too often left isolated where he'd have to create something for himself and ultimately (unfairly) let (too many) fans down.

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by biggeordiedave » Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:30 am

The commentary for his goal at the weekend was quite funny. The commentator immediately hyped it as "PEREZ THAT'S A GREA..t finish" once he realised he actually just blasted it straight at the keeper and it went in <laugh>.
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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by Bodacious Benny » Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:38 am

I agree with what others have said.

For me he's definitely best suited to playing just off a striker and not really effective as a winger or leading the line. It's no coincidence that his best goal scoring season for us (12 in 37 league games) came when he played next to Rondon and he seemed to thrive and fulfil what until then had just been potential. He always chipped in up to that season, but I always felt that there could be more. His finishing was inconsistent and had he improved that he easily could have got more goals for us. I think that's where some fans frustrations stem from, he'd be in very good positions but fluff the shot.

He seemed to have a decent start to his career at Leicester but has gone off the boil a bit or maybe doesn't fit into what Rodgers is trying to do. You can't fault his work-rate but to be a regular for a side aiming for top 6 like Leicester I do think he needs to become more consistent. I wish him luck, but I wasn't particularly upset when he left (given the choice I'd have kept Rondon over Perez, no question at all) and it seemed like we got a fair price for him. His Newcastle career had run it's course and considering we signed him for next to nothing from Tenerife he more than did his bit here.
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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by Don Sholeone » Tue Dec 08, 2020 10:02 am

I found him to be very frustrating as a player due to his inconsistency, hes someone who would be anonymous for 4 or 5 games then pop up with something of real class. Like others have said he plays much better with a physical striker, the season with Rondon was his best for us. I've always thought if he could play his best football over a full season he would be right up there in terms of quality.

I think the transfer to Leicester is a complicated one for us, it was a weird summer, we lost Rafa and didn't sign Rondon, then when Ayoze left it felt a little out of the blue and felt like everything at the club was crumbling, so at the time it felt disastrous. In hindsight I think it was a good deal for us, personally I think it was his time to leave, he had his conflicts with fans and divided opinion so a move away should probably have been expected, and for £30m, I dont think we could have done much better in terms of a fee.

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by Captain Obvious » Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:40 am

Haven't really followed him too much at Leicester - seems to be in and out of the team but undoubtedly he's a second striker - his work rate and discipline are such that he can play on the wing but he's best suited to playing off a main striker. He has fantastic technique and work rate - great for a team applying a press - and I think it was this work rate that Rafa Benitez really loved about him. Not the quickest but has a low centre of gravity his career at Newcastle was somewhat frustrating as brilliant performances and mediocre ones seemed all too interchangeable. I was disappointed when he left - to lose a first XI player to a PL club not 'big 6' so to speak (although you obviously have ambitions and the form to mix it with them and obviously finish in those places) is a blow but at the time I thought £30m was fair enough - I think we probably could have got more like £40m at the time but it didn't feel like a robbery given his release clause and the main ill feeling around the transfer was the knowledge that we'd lost a first XI player and he would be replaced for a fraction of the cost (if at all). I don't at all blame him for joining Leicester, I think it was clearly an upwards move to a club with a top manager and ambitions of finishing in the top 4 and I think he's well worth at least a squad position in a club around that level. A team player I don't think he'll ever be more than a 10, 12 maybe 15 PL goals a season but he brings other attributes that benefit the team.

If I could sum up his Newcastle career in a sentence (that heavily conflicts itself) it would be:

Underrated (in terms of his contribution to the team, especially without the ball) but inconsistent (in terms of individual attacking output week on week).

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by Colly » Tue Dec 08, 2020 12:45 pm

I suppose the interesting thing when you consider his fee is that essentially his replacement (albeit with an overlap) is probably Almiron at £24m (?), which I definitely wouldn't consider an upgrade. For all that Perez was inconsistent he was absolutely clinical by comparison.

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by biggeordiedave » Tue Dec 08, 2020 3:03 pm

Colly wrote:
Tue Dec 08, 2020 12:45 pm
I suppose the interesting thing when you consider his fee is that essentially his replacement (albeit with an overlap) is probably Almiron at £24m (?), which I definitely wouldn't consider an upgrade. For all that Perez was inconsistent he was absolutely clinical by comparison.
We replaced Perez with Almiron and Joelinton who, between them, do not make up what we lost selling Perez <laugh>.
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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by Remember Colo » Tue Dec 08, 2020 8:41 pm

As for inconsistency, I think it's a fair descriptor of his production during his time with us, but I think being as he's so dependent on chances created by others and attacking team play, he'll always only be as consistent as the team's tactics and performance.

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by Colly » Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:05 pm

I agree entirely, he's not the only forward player we've had to be labelled inconsistent when feeding off scraps.

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by Bodacious Benny » Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:59 pm

Still only got 8 league goals for Leicester last season in a much more attacking team. He’s never going to be a 20 goal a season attacker. If he gets into the teens ( <perv> ) it’s about his level.
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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by beatski » Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:15 am

I think he was a really good player overall for us, and one of our best players at the time we sold him. especially for what we paid for him (under 1mil i think). best position is definitely off a main striker as others have said. a very skillful, technical player but who has an inconsistent end product, and i think he got unnecessary stick off the fans because of it (consistently average often gets less criticism than occasionally brilliant) and his defensive workrate is second to none (literally, there was a piece in the guardian that showed him statistically putting in more defensive actions than any other forward one season). he was one of my favorite toon players tbh and i was gutted to lose him, but i cant complain about him leaving the shitshow that is newcastle to further his career, as it was obviously an upward move to go to leicester .

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by Remember Colo » Wed Dec 09, 2020 3:11 pm

Bodacious Benny wrote:
Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:59 pm
Still only got 8 league goals for Leicester last season in a much more attacking team. He’s never going to be a 20 goal a season attacker. If he gets into the teens ( <perv> ) it’s about his level.
I agree he'll never be a 20 goal per season striker, though few in the league are. But on a per minute basis he was basically as productive as he's ever been in the PL last year.

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by ALF » Wed Dec 09, 2020 4:47 pm

Captain Obvious wrote:
Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:40 am
Haven't really followed him too much at Leicester - seems to be in and out of the team but undoubtedly he's a second striker - his work rate and discipline are such that he can play on the wing but he's best suited to playing off a main striker. He has fantastic technique and work rate - great for a team applying a press - and I think it was this work rate that Rafa Benitez really loved about him. Not the quickest but has a low centre of gravity his career at Newcastle was somewhat frustrating as brilliant performances and mediocre ones seemed all too interchangeable. I was disappointed when he left - to lose a first XI player to a PL club not 'big 6' so to speak (although you obviously have ambitions and the form to mix it with them and obviously finish in those places) is a blow but at the time I thought £30m was fair enough - I think we probably could have got more like £40m at the time but it didn't feel like a robbery given his release clause and the main ill feeling around the transfer was the knowledge that we'd lost a first XI player and he would be replaced for a fraction of the cost (if at all). I don't at all blame him for joining Leicester, I think it was clearly an upwards move to a club with a top manager and ambitions of finishing in the top 4 and I think he's well worth at least a squad position in a club around that level. A team player I don't think he'll ever be more than a 10, 12 maybe 15 PL goals a season but he brings other attributes that benefit the team.

If I could sum up his Newcastle career in a sentence (that heavily conflicts itself) it would be:

Underrated (in terms of his contribution to the team, especially without the ball) but inconsistent (in terms of individual attacking output week on week).
Agree with this. Never did get to play in an attacking team though.

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by overseasTOON » Wed Dec 09, 2020 5:44 pm

He was OK for about a third of every season.

Most shots he had were weak as piss, he fell over too easily and too often.

He did play better with Rondon but any half decent attacking player would have as well so to get £30 million was a great return.

Wish him well though.

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Re: Ayoze Perez opinions

Post by krully » Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:57 pm

Good player for us I felt, saw him get the hattrick v Southhamptom last year, loved it.

Bit of a dick to do the celebration when he scored v us but we turned a nice profit off him

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