Ruud Gullit slammed Newcastle United attacker Salomon Rondon for his display against Chelsea but admitted that it wasn’t the player’s fault.
The BBC pundit explained that the 6ft 1in tall forward (Source: ESPN) was stuck on his own upfront for the majority of the game against the Blues so was unable to hold onto possession or successfully pass the ball on as no one was beside him.
“Rondon, he had a nightmare because he was on his own,” said Gullit on BBC One’s Match of the Day 2 (Sunday August 26th, 23:04pm).
“What can you do? He couldn’t keep the ball, the high balls, he couldn’t flick it on as to who?”
Rafa Benitez’s side ended up losing 2-1 to Chelsea on Saturday at St James Park after DeAndre Yedlin inadvertently turned the ball into his own net in the 87th minute of the match.
OPINION
Rondon did struggle that much is clear but easy to see why Gullit is not willing to blame the forward for his lacklustre display. Benitez set his team up to play deep and this left Rondon isolated up top which caused him not to be an attacking threat for his side. The 28-year-old had next to no service to work with and it was no surprise when his number was held up in the 62nd minute. Benitez opted to bench Rondon at that time and put on Joselu which ended up being a very wise substitution. The Spanish forward scored a powerful header during the game to make it look like the Magpies were on the brink of earning a point from their clash with the Blues only for that to end up not being the case. Joselu benefited from his team pushing forward more, once he was on the pitch, and Rondon would have been questioning why he did get the same help when he was upfront. Hopefully when the Magpies play a style that favours Rondon’s attributes much better, the club will start to see the best of him.
