OPINION
This should have been a low pressure match, an opportunity for Newcastle United to have a run out in the warmth of Marbella for the sake of fitness and experimentation with things like formation and positioning. Certainly, Saturday’s friendly against CSKA Moscow should never have been an opportunity to damage anybody’s reputation, and yet somehow, almost incredibly, Joselu still found a way. In a game that was barley publicised and hardly watched, the Spanish forward was still able to further convince Magpies fans that he is not the right man to deputise for Salomon Rondon, while some must have been wondering if he is actually a footballer at all or whether he is in fact an impostor pretending that he was once on the books at Real Madrid. You can’t fault Joselu’s work ethic or his willingness to fight for the team, but when it comes to fundamental footballing ability, he looks so far off being a Premier League player that it’s almost frightening. Against CSKA after coming on at the interval, he looked poor throughout, and his turgid afternoon was encapsulated in particular by one sorry miss. Out of nowhere, a chasm opened before him on the edge of the Russians’ box, and in that moment you would expect any Premier League striker to make the net bulge, or at the very least force the goalkeeper into a world class save. Instead, Joselu allowed his effort to trickle tamely into the arms of a grateful stopper, and you can’t help feeling that his weak attempt was a perfect illustration of his Newcastle career to date.
Nothing But Newcastle have gathered some of the best tweets below:
Joselu showing why we can't afford an injury to Rondon #NUFC
— Sam (@Funguslover) February 16, 2019
Joselu misses sitter. Quelle surprise
— neilB ⚫️⚪️⚫️⚪️ (@neilTheMagpie) February 16, 2019
Can we leave Joselu in Spain please
— Ryan (@Ryan_Rosee) February 16, 2019
THIS is the striker we'll have starting if Rondon gets injured..😳
Dear me Joselu 🙈#nufc
— NUFCblog.co.uk (@NUFCblogcouk) February 16, 2019
Great bantz from Rafa bringing on Joselu with all those windows behind CSKAs goal 🙈 😂#nufc pic.twitter.com/VVbShkLtSy
— Dane (@DJ__NUFC) February 16, 2019
Fair to say it just won't work out for Joselu at the club. Has had plenty of time to gel with our players over the past couple of seasons but it just isn't clicking. Time for him to search for pastures new. #nufc
— Andrew McVittie (@Andrew_McVittie) February 16, 2019
https://twitter.com/GeordieRobM/status/1096745242487869440
https://twitter.com/JordNufcmorris/status/1096745927702953990
