OPINION
Newcastle United fans have come to expect a certain standard of performance from Salomon Rondon.
The Venezuelan hitman has been the hero for much of the Magpies’ campaign, but he ended cup being an unlikely source of disappointment after a poor showing on Saturday afternoon against Crystal Palace.
The Toon Army dominated the early stages of the match, and by the final whistle had registered 18 efforts to the visitors’ three.
Now obviously, Rondon didn’t take all 18 of those shots, but he did waste two gilded opportunities in the first half when he probably should have laid in his teammates instead of going it alone.
This in itself is nothing unforgivable, and god knows everybody has a bad day at the office, but the towering 6’1″ forward [Transfermarkt] has set such a high bar for himself that any misfire in front of goal comes as a bit of a shock.
In the grand scheme of things, this loss might not matter too much, but with Mike Ashley hesitant to stump up the cash to make his move permanent, as reported in the Daily Mail, he can ill afford this kind of performance at such a crucial part of the season.
United fans will have been underwhelmed by their star man on the day, but they won’t hold it against him for too long.
Whether the man in charge of the purse strings does, however, remains to be seen.
